In what might be the most random glow-up since Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson decided he was a movie star (and somehow got paid $270 million to raise one eyebrow per scene), CoreWeave is making it’s biggest move yet (which is saying a lot after it’s historic 293% surge since it’s huge IPO)… a $9 billion all-stock acquisition of Core Scientific.

(Source: CNBC)

Remember, this is the same Core Scientific that used to mine Bitcoin, filed for bankruptcy in 2022, and has been slowly reinventing itself as a data center infrastructure provider for AI workloads. The deal basically combines two former crypto bros who realized chasing Satoshi might not be as profitable as leasing compute power to trillion-dollar AI companies (who knew?).

While this might seem like another big-dollar acquisition on the surface, it’s actually a strategic move to secure one of the most critical resources in AI: I’m talking about power. And not just a little… we’re talking gigawatts of capacity across major U.S. data centers. So let’s break down why this deal matters… and how it could position CoreWeave as a serious contender in the AI infrastructure space.

CoreWeave’s core business is renting out Nvidia GPUs (over 250,000 of them) to companies building AI models… think OpenAI-style workloads, generative image tools, or whatever startup just raised $50M to build AI-powered dog memes. What gives CoreWeave a serious edge is their early access to Nvidia’s top-tier hardware, including the new GB300 NVL72, which delivers 1.5x the performance of Nvidia’s already powerful Blackwell chip. Oh, and Nvidia owns 7% of the company, which basically means they’re the teacher’s favorite student… with the answer key.

But having elite hardware is only half the battle. AI workloads are insanely energy-intensive. Running these chips around the clock requires massive amounts of electricity and specialized data centers. That’s CoreWeave’s bottleneck… not customer demand, but power. That’s why the Core Scientific acquisition makes so much sense.

By buying Core Scientific, CoreWeave gains control of 1.3 gigawatts of existing U.S. data center capacity, with another gigawatt in the pipeline. For perspective, that’s enough electricity to power more than a million homes… or keep a couple hundred thousand GPUs running 24/7 without tripping a breaker.

CoreWeave already leases data center space from Core Scientific. With this deal, they eliminate an estimated $10 billion in future lease payments and bring their infrastructure in-house. It’s vertical integration in action… and if you're building AI infrastructure in 2025, owning the land, power, and cooling systems is the closest thing to a moat you’re going to get.

Here’s how the numbers shake out: Core Scientific shareholders will get 0.1235 CoreWeave shares per CORZ share, valuing CORZ at around $20.40… a 66% premium to where it traded before the deal rumors broke in June. It might not sound like a record deal… but that’s a solid exit for a company that was delisted from the Nasdaq just last year.

Now with all that said, both stocks actually dropped after the announcement… CoreWeave fell about 4.5%, while Core Scientific sank over 20%. But if you take a step back, that’s a classic Wall Street reaction to big all-stock deals. Investors tend to hate dilution, even when the strategic rationale is solid. Add in concerns about execution and integration (especially with a company that just emerged from bankruptcy) and you get a quick selloff. (Think of it like the market’s version of a reflex: see “acquisition,” hit “sell,” then read the details later.)

But the long game here is hard to ignore. Amazon and Microsoft are each pouring tens of billions into AI data centers to shore up their cloud empires. CoreWeave doesn’t have their size, but it’s moving with speed… backed by Nvidia, surging on 400% revenue growth, and now securing the physical infrastructure to compete.

Is it risky? Of course. This is still a capital-heavy business, and CoreWeave’s growth depends on scaling infrastructure faster than its competitors while keeping the supply chain greased and the power grid happy. Miss a step, and investors won’t be forgiving. But if AI demand continues to explode (and CoreWeave becomes the place to rent Nvidia’s chips) this garage-born upstart could end up owning a chunk of the future. Or they’ll be back mining Ethereum by 2027.

At the time of publishing this article, Stocks.News holds positions in Amazon and Microsoft as mentioned in the article.