Core Scientific's transition from a bankrupt Bitcoin miner to a U.S. artificial intelligence infrastructure provider accelerated through the first half of 2026, though the expansion has brought substantial capital expenditures and rising long-term debt.
During the second quarter of 2026, the company reported approximately 1.1 gigawatts of leased customer power capacity, representing more than $24 billion in potential revenue under long-term contracts lasting up to 15 years. High-density colocation emerged as the company's primary business driver, producing $136.7 million of the $164.2 million in total quarterly revenue. Meanwhile, digital asset self-mining contributed $21.5 million in revenue while recording a gross loss of approximately $12.2 million.
The pivot follows the company's December 2022 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, which was driven by declining Bitcoin prices, rising electricity costs, and tightened financing conditions. After a restructuring plan was confirmed in Texas bankruptcy court, Core Scientific emerged in January 2024 and resumed trading on Nasdaq under the ticker CORZ, reducing its debt by about $400 million and retaining 724 megawatts of operating capacity across five U.S. states.
Core Scientific subsequently established commercial relationships with high-performance computing operators. Initial agreements with CoreWeave expanded to approximately 590 megawatts of contracted capacity, associated with about $10.2 million in potential revenue. On July 28, 2026, the company announced an infrastructure partnership with AMD covering an initial 530 megawatts across five U.S. sites under 15-year agreements, with deployments scheduled to begin in 2027. AMD also received reservation rights for another 1.925 gigawatts.
To finance its pivot toward AI data centers, Core Scientific spent $954.2 million on property and equipment during the first six months of 2026 and issued $3.3 billion of senior secured notes in May. As a result, long-term debt reached approximately $4.3 billion by June 30, up from about $1.06 billion at the end of 2025. The company held approximately $1.8 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and digital assets at the end of the quarter, while continuing to face construction spending and execution risks.
