Core Scientific sold $208 million of bitcoin in Q1 as AI pivot continues

Core Scientific (CORZ) reported a $347.2 million first-quarter loss even as revenue rose to $115.2 million, as the former bitcoin mining heavyweight sold 2,385 bitcoin for $208.3 million and wrote down $266.5 million of mining-related assets.

The company said the bitcoin sales were used to fund capital expenditures and other cash needs, extending a pattern of miners selling BTC to fund AI data centers.

The company also closed a $3.3 billion offering of 7.75% senior secured notes, proceeds it plans to use for data center development and to repay a $1 billion term loan facility. The bond sale was aimed at funding its shift from crypto mining to AI-focused data center operations.

Colocation revenue, the company revealed, rose to $77.5 million from $8.6 million a year earlier, making it Core Scientific’s largest business line, according to the company’s earnings release.

Crypto mining revenue fell to $30.1 million from $67.2 million, driven by a 45% drop in bitcoin mined and an 18% drop in the average bitcoin price, CORZ said.

The company operated 10 data centers across seven U.S. states at the end of March, representing about 1.9 GW of gross utility power capacity and 1.3 GW of leasable customer power capacity, according to its latest 10-Q.

Core Scientific said in its filing that its first high-density colocation contract with CoreWeave was later expanded to 590 MW of leased customer power capacity.

A February 2025 expansion brought CoreWeave’s contracted infrastructure with Core Scientific to about 590 MW across six sites and lifted projected revenue to $10.2 billion over 12-year terms.

Customer concentration remains high. Core Scientific’s 10-Q said one colocation customer generated 67% of total revenue in the first quarter, up from 11% a year earlier.

Core Scientific’s AI pivot has been under investor scrutiny since CoreWeave’s failed roughly $9 billion all-stock takeover attempt. The company emerged from Chapter 11 in 2024 and has since become one of the main examples of bitcoin miners trying to turn access to power into contracted AI infrastructure revenue.

It ended March with $1.04 billion of liquidity, including $1.01 billion of cash and $37.3 million of bitcoin.