Core Scientific teams up with AMD on AI data centers, further pivoting away from bitcoin mining

Core Scientific (CORZ) said it has struck an infrastructure partnership with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) built around 15-year leases covering 529 megawatts of U.S.-based AI data-center capacity. The company said the contracts could generate more than $14 billion in base contracted revenue, with capacity expected to support AMD customer deployments starting in 2027. Under the agreements, AMD may, subject to certain conditions, reserve an additional 1,925 MW through Dec. 28, 2028, which could lift the relationship to roughly 2.5 gigawatts. In its quarterly filing, Core Scientific said AMD directly leased 377 MW across facilities in Pecos and Hunt County, Texas, and Muskogee, Oklahoma. A separate cloud provider, not named, leased another 152 MW in Auburn, Alabama, and Dalton, Georgia, under AMD-supported agreements. The companies said they will work together on data-center design and on deploying AMD Instinct GPUs, EPYC processors, and ROCm software. AMD also received warrants to buy up to 30 million Core Scientific shares at $23.47 per share. About 6.5 million warrants vested when the initial leases were signed, with additional tranches vesting as more capacity is contracted. Core Scientific said the deals increase its leased customer capacity to about 1.1 GW, representing more than $24 billion in potential contracted revenue. As of mid-July, the company was billing customers for 437 MW, equivalent to roughly $635 million in annualized colocation revenue. The partnership advances Core Scientific's shift away from bitcoin mining. Colocation revenue totaled $136.7 million, or 83% of second-quarter revenue of $164.2 million, while self-mining revenue dropped 66% to $21.5 million. Core Scientific also ended an agreement to purchase Block's (XYZ) bitcoin-mining chips and recorded a $41.9 million charge. The 2024 deal covered 3-nanometer chips representing about 15 EH/s of hashrate. The company held 848 BTC valued at $49.7 million as of June 30, up from 547 BTC three months earlier. It sold 2,385 BTC for $208.2 million in the first quarter. Shares of CORZ rose 5.6% in premarket trading. AMD fell 4% as chip stocks extended a broader selloff.