Core Scientific’s $24B AI Contracts Don’t Settle the Leverage Debate

A company that filed for Chapter 11 with about $4 million in cash in December 2022 now trades as a $7 billion AI infrastructure business.

According to the original report, Core Scientific has accumulated more than $24 billion in potential long-term contract revenue by converting former Bitcoin mining sites into high-density data center capacity for customers including CoreWeave and AMD.

The repricing is not simply a Bitcoin recovery story. It is a revaluation of power, land, and grid access at a moment when energized capacity is scarce and slow to build. Core Scientific shares have climbed about 533% from their first-day close after relisting in January 2024.

Bankruptcy Preserved the Assets That Would Eventually Reprice Core Scientific’s 2022 failure was not caused by worthless infrastructure. The company had expanded with debt just as Bitcoin fell from its 2021 high, network difficulty rose, and power prices tightened.