CoreWeave Inc. is reportedly seeking to buy Core Scientific Inc., an infrastructure company on which it depends to power its cloud platform.

The Wall Street Journal today cited sources as saying that the sale could be finalized within weeks. Shares of Core Scientific jumped more than 30% on the report. CoreWeave, which has seen its market capitalization triple since going public in March, ended the trading session down about 0.9%.

CoreWeave operates a cloud platform optimized to run artificial intelligence workloads. It provides access to more than a half-dozen of Nvidia Corp.’s graphics cards, including the latest and most advanced Blackwell B200. Customers can also access other infrastructure resources including servers equipped solely with central processing units.

Core Scientific launched in 2017 as a bitcoin mine operator. It went public in early 2022 and filed for Chapter 11 protection a few months later. Last January, Core Scientific exited bankruptcy with a plan to build and operate AI-optimized data centers. It inked its first infrastructure deal with CoreWeave around the same time.

CoreWeave originally rented 15 megawatts of capacity in Core Scientific’s Austin data center. Since then, the order has expanded to cover 590 megawatts across six sites. According to Core Scientific, its contracts with the cloud provider are set to generate more than $10 billion in revenue over the next 12 years.

It’s believed that CoreWeave first floated the idea of buying the company last year. At the time, it reportedly offered about $1 billion. Given that Core Scientific has since become one of CoreWeave’s most important infrastructure partners, the AI cloud provider might be willing to up its bid.

CoreWeave may seek to finance the transaction with stock rather than cash to avoid weakening its balance sheet, which already carries a significant amount of debt. The company had about $8 billion in outstanding obligations at the end of December 2024. At the time, it faced interest payments of $7.5 billion by the end of 2026. CoreWeave has since refinanced some of that debt to secure more favorable terms.

If it closes, the Core Scientific deal would mark the company’s second major acquisition since the start of the year. Core Weave previously bought AI tooling provider Weights & Biases Inc. in a deal reportedly worth $1.7 billion. Shortly after the acquisition, the cloud provider released a new service called W&B Inference that promises to ease the task of building AI applications.

CoreWeave is working to upgrade not only its software capabilities but also the underlying infrastructure. In April, the company made thousands of Nvidia’s Blackwell B200 chips available to customers. The processors run in liquid-cooled GB200 NVL72 appliances, which each combine 72 graphics cards with 36 CPUs and supporting equipment. 

Photo: CoreWeave