Core Scientific (CORZ) shareholders previously rejected $9 billion sale; market now reassesses company against AMD's AI platform positioning.
Core Scientific, Inc. (NASDAQ:CORZ) announced a major infrastructure partnership with Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) on July 28, granting the chipmaker's ecosystem access to more than 500 megawatts of U.S. data-center capacity beginning in 2027, expandable to 2.5 gigawatts. The arrangement proved more substantial than initial announcements suggested. Core Scientific's earnings release detailed 15-year agreements covering approximately 530 megawatts across five sites, with more than $14 billion in potential base contracted revenue. AMD directly leased 377 megawatts, while an unnamed neocloud leased another 152 megawatts under agreements providing AMD certain equipment protections and default remedies.
The larger context reaches back nine months. In July 2025, Core Scientific shareholders rejected an all-stock acquisition by CoreWeave valued at approximately $9 billion. The fixed exchange ratio set CORZ at $20.40 per share at announcement, though shareholders would ultimately receive value pegged to CoreWeave's share price at closing. In January 2026, Gullane Capital Partners founder Trip Miller, who had opposed the sale, predicted Core Scientific would secure AI customers beyond CoreWeave. "I expect them to announce deals for AI with third parties other than CoreWeave," he told Business Insider.
The AMD agreements delivered precisely that diversification. AMD's 377-megawatt direct lease and the neocloud's 152-megawatt lease exceeded Miller's roughly 400-megawatt expectation, though AMD itself did not directly lease the full 529 megawatts. The critical question remains whether shareholders proved correct in preserving Core Scientific's independence, or merely secured a large, capital-intensive opportunity whose ultimate value remains uncertain.
The AMD partnership validates the central argument shareholders advanced when rejecting CoreWeave: Core Scientific's power portfolio could attract major customers beyond its existing tenant. Before these agreements, CoreWeave remained Core Scientific's only meaningful high-density colocation customer, leasing approximately 590 megawatts and generating 77 percent of first-half revenue. The new leases nearly double total leased customer capacity to approximately 1.1 gigawatts. Core Scientific now reports total potential contracted revenue exceeding $24 billion, including CoreWeave and the AMD-related agreements.
This validation matters because the independence case required more than rising AI infrastructure demand. Core Scientific had to demonstrate that its sites, power access, construction capabilities, and delivery record attracted counterparties beyond CoreWeave. AMD's direct 377-megawatt commitment, spread across sites in Pecos, Muskogee, and Hunt County, provides that proof. The additional 152 megawatts leased by a neocloud across two other sites will support AMD equipment, with AMD receiving contractual protections. Together, these initial 529 megawatts of critical IT capacity rival Core Scientific's entire 590-megawatt CoreWeave relationship. Should AMD convert its reservation rights for another 1,925 megawatts into leases, the partnership could eventually surpass CoreWeave's position.
The agreement also accelerates Core Scientific's transition away from bitcoin mining. Colocation generated $136.7 million of the company's $164.2 million in second-quarter revenue. The business increasingly resembles a data-center landlord rather than a bitcoin miner pivoting toward AI.
From this angle, the shareholder vote preserved the upside CoreWeave sought to acquire. Core Scientific retained ownership of its power pipeline, secured another major technology partner, and locked in long-term contracts without surrendering the company.
However, validating the strategic premise behind independence differs from proving rejection created more shareholder value. The headline comparison—more than $14 billion in potential contracted revenue against a rejected $9 billion acquisition—misleads. The $9 billion figure represents the announcement-date implied equity value of proposed stock consideration, with final value dependent on CoreWeave's share price at closing. The AMD figure reflects potential base revenue collected over 15 years, before construction costs, operating expenses, financing costs, taxes, and discounting for time value.
The full 2.5-gigawatt opportunity should not be treated as contracted capacity. Signed leases cover 529 megawatts of critical IT load. AMD holds only a reservation right for the additional 1,925 megawatts through December 2028, subject to timing and other conditions. Even the initial capacity requires context: AMD directly leases 377 megawatts, while the remaining 152 megawatts goes to an unnamed neocloud. AMD has protections over its equipment and certain default remedies, but these arrangements do not constitute AMD's direct guarantee of every payment under the neocloud leases.
AMD received the right to purchase up to 30 million Core Scientific shares at $23.47 per share, with vesting tied to contracted capacity. Approximately 6.5 million shares vested and became exercisable upon signing; the underlying shares were not issued. The vested portion represents roughly 2 percent of Core Scientific's 321.3 million outstanding shares as of July 23. The full 30-million-share warrant equals approximately 9.3 percent of current share count, or 8.5 percent post-exercise. A complete cash exercise at the strike price would generate approximately $704 million for Core Scientific.
Capital requirements may outweigh dilution concerns. Core Scientific carried approximately $4.4 billion in borrowings at June's end, including $3.3 billion of 7.75 percent senior secured notes issued in May. The company was also committed to approximately $1 billion in future construction and purchase expenditures, of which only $264 million was expected to pass through to a customer. CoreWeave conversions are funded almost entirely by that customer. The company warned that new sites, including Hunt County and Muskogee—two AMD lease locations—lack the same customer-funding structure. Complete project-funding terms for the new agreements remained undisclosed.
The partnership thus shifts the test from customer acquisition to execution. Core Scientific must build capacity on time, control construction costs, arrange suitable project financing, and generate returns justifying construction spending, financing costs, and potential warrant dilution.
The AMD partnership substantially vindicates the strategic argument behind rejecting CoreWeave. Core Scientific has demonstrated it can attract another major technology partner, with the 529 megawatts tied to the AMD ecosystem—377 megawatts leased directly by AMD and 152 megawatts by a neocloud—nearly matching its entire CoreWeave relationship. It does not yet vindicate the economic outcome. More than $14 billion in potential revenue over 15 years cannot be compared directly with the transaction's approximately $9 billion announcement-date implied equity value, particularly when complete project-funding terms remain undisclosed, Core Scientific carries substantial debt, and warrants could dilute shareholders if exercised—though exercise would provide cash to the company. Shareholders have been proven right about Core Scientific's customer appeal, but not yet about the value ultimately available from preserving independence.