Core Scientific Pays $41.9 Million to Terminate Bitcoin Mining Contract, Shifts to AI Infrastructure

Odaily Planet Daily report: Data center operator Core Scientific disclosed in its second-quarter regulatory filing that it paid $41.9 million to terminate its bitcoin mining equipment contract with Block and its Proto division, resulting in a loss of $41.9 million. Both the agreement and future equipment deliveries have been canceled. The agreement, announced in July 2024, originally planned for Proto to supply 3-nanometer mining chips equivalent to approximately 15 EH/s of hash rate, along with optional additional purchases. Core Scientific stated that it will no longer invest in new mining equipment to maintain or expand its hash rate; instead, it will generate cash flow from existing equipment and sell or retire miners as appropriate. Core Scientific’s托管 revenue for the second quarter increased from $10.6 million in the same period last year to $137 million, accounting for 83% of total revenue. Self-mining revenue declined 66% year-over-year to $21.5 million, representing 13% of total revenue. The company noted that its quarterly bitcoin production decreased by 53% year-over-year and continues to redirect power from mining equipment toward high-density computing systems such as GPUs.