CoreWeave Buys Core Scientific to Take AI Infrastructure In-House

CoreWeave is buying Core Scientific for $9 billion in a move that shifts the company from a large-scale lessee to a data center owner with serious power capacity, according to Channel Futures. With the deal, CoreWeave adds 10 facilities and roughly 1.3 gigawatts of power to its infrastructure portfolio, enough to significantly change how it scales its AI and HPC workloads. Just a year ago, the company tried to buy Core Scientific for a fraction of the current price. This time, they’re not just acquiring space, they’re cutting out future lease expenses worth over $10 billion.

Core Scientific, known for running crypto mining facilities, has been slowly shifting toward AI infrastructure. The timing of this deal reflects where the industry is headed: high-performance computing and AI workloads need power and space, and fast. CoreWeave, which already operates more than two dozen facilities, is looking to bring more control in-house as demand for GPUs and power-intensive workloads keeps climbing.

For CoreWeave, this is less about owning real estate and more about securing its long-term ability to deliver infrastructure. The cost of renting was climbing fast. By buying Core Scientific, it locks in scale, power, and the physical foundation it needs to support its customers without depending on increasingly expensive lease agreements. It also gives them more flexibility to expand how and where they serve AI workloads.

The deal is expected to close in Q4 2025, with Core Scientific shareholders owning less than 10% of the combined entity. For Core Scientific, the acquisition offers a second act beyond crypto, aligning with a buyer that’s already running large-scale GPU operations. For CoreWeave, it’s a calculated step toward owning more of the stack and keeping margins in check as it rides the next wave of AI demand.