Bitcoin miner Core Scientific (Nasdaq: CORZ) announced Thursday it has secured up to $1 billion in financing from Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) to accelerate the conversion of all 10 of its Bitcoin mining facilities into AI data centers. The funds will be used for equipment purchases, land acquisition, and covering the extra energy costs associated with high-density colocation for AI clients.
Loan Terms: $500M Initial Tranche with Upside
Under the agreement, Core Scientific will receive an initial $500 million, 364-day loan. An accordion feature allows it to increase the total to $500 million more, bringing the ceiling to $1 billion. The financing comes as the digital asset mining industry faces severe margin compression.
Bitcoin Price Pressure Forces Strategic Pivot
The miner missed Q4 2025 revenue estimates by over $44 million, as Bitcoin plunged from its all-time high of $126,000 to a 2025 low of $71,000. With production costs hovering around $93,000 per BTC, the company found itself trapped in a miner capitulation zone. Bitcoin traded at $71,086 at press time.
To fund the AI transition, Core Scientific recently sold nearly all its Bitcoin holdings — 2,537 BTC. It also entered a $10 billion partnership with AI cloud platform CoreWeave to host its graphical processing units (GPUs) in the converted facilities.
Industry Trend: AI Hosting Yields 25x Revenue per kWh
Core Scientific joins a growing list of major miners — including Iris Energy, Cipher Mining, TeraWulf, and Hut 8 — that are partially or fully pivoting to AI data centers. These firms leverage existing electrical grids, pre-allocated power capacity, and physical infrastructure like land and cooling systems.
AI hosting generates up to 25 times more revenue per kilowatt-hour than Bitcoin mining, and the income is dollar-denominated, offering far greater stability than Bitcoin-linked earnings. Despite the deal, Core Scientific stock slipped 1.07% to $15.67 in the following trading session.