“我们真正看重的是长期稳定的现金流和可预测的回报，”首席运营官Matt Brown在一次采访中表示。该公司最初是以比特币矿工身份起步。尽管比特币近期表现出色，但它的波动性很大。相比之下，Core Scientific(CORZ.O)通过托管为AI提供云服务的公司服务器，可以稳定盈利多年。Core Scientific, once deeply in debt due to bitcoin mining, has staged an astonishing comeback on the stock market this year.
Core Scientific, which was once deeply in debt due to the bitcoin mining industry, has seen a staggering 400% surge in the stock market this year.
However, if forced to choose between the two businesses, the company's executives have expressed that they prefer to invest in datacenters.
"What we truly value is long-term stable cash flow and predictable returns," stated COO Matt Brown in an interview. The company initially started as a bitcoin miner. Despite the strong recent performance of bitcoin, its volatility is significant. In contrast, Core Scientific (CORZ.O) can generate stable profits for years by providing cloud computing service for ai from its servers.
This year, whether betting on bitcoin or datacenters, both choices would be correct. Bitcoin has risen by 116%, and there's also high demand for datacenters as technology companies need them to support ai applications.
Although these two technologies seem to have little in common, they both rely on one essential thing: a reliable electrical utilities supply. Core Scientific has ample electrical utilities, operating nine warehouses connected to the grid across six states, with enough electricity to supply hundreds of thousands of households. Other bitcoin miners are also transitioning into datacenter hosting, but few have been as successful as Core Scientific.
At the beginning of the year, Core Scientific's business was not doing well. The company was under the shadow of bankruptcy protection at the start of 2024. After going public through a SPAC in 2022, it became heavily indebted and was on the brink of bankruptcy following the collapse of bitcoin prices. However, after the bankruptcy restructuring on January 23, Core Scientific quickly turned the situation around, reducing its debt by 0.4 billion dollars.
The company initially focused on cryptocurrency mining but soon recognized the surging demand for ai datacenter power, and shifted its strategy.
In June, Core Scientific reached an agreement with Coreweave to lease datacenter space for providing AI cloud computing service. Subsequently, Coreweave agreed to lease 500 megawatts of space, and Core Scientific expects to generate $8.7 billion in revenue under this agreement over 12 years.
Coreweave is a private company and one of the fastest-growing companies driving the AI revolution. It was once a crypto miner but has transformed into a company providing cloud computing services, particularly focused on ai. Coreweave has a close relationship with nvidia, which invested in Coreweave and provided top-tier chips. Coreweave is expected to be one of the first customers of nvidia's upcoming Blackwell GPU.
Core Scientific's rapid success in this new field has surprised even those pushing for this transformation.
"Sometimes I have to pinch myself to see if I'm dreaming," Brown said.
However, Core Scientific's success sets a high bar for further increases in stock prices. It is expected that the company will incur losses this year, mainly due to changes in the value of stock warrants—this is an accounting adjustment and does not reflect the company's actual profitability. Analysts expect the company to become profitable starting in 2025 when more datacenter agreements begin to generate actual revenue. Analysts predict that eps will increase tenfold by 2027. The stock price is currently about 13 times the expected 2027 earnings.
As technology companies build more powerful ai systems, opportunities in datacenters should only grow. Of the total power capacity contracts of 1,200 megawatts that Core Scientific signed, about 800 megawatts will be used for datacenter computing agreements, and 400 megawatts for bitcoin mining.
Brown stated that the company has a good relationship with electrical utilities, possibly allowing them to increase power supplies without acquiring more real estate. It is expected that by the end of the year, the company will have approximately 300 megawatts of power at existing sites.
Additionally, the company is looking for new sites, including some traditional datacenters in "distress" that have lost tenants. Core Scientific has found ways to quickly transform dilapidated datacenters, turning them into high-tech venues that provide resources like liquid cooling equipment and higher power supplies.
In a standard datacenter, a server rack may require 6 or 7 kilowatts of electrical utilities, while a high-performance datacenter may require up to 130 kilowatts per rack; Core Scientific is working to increase the capacity to 400 kilowatts. The company likens the process of upgrading the warehouse to transforming an ordinary car into an F1 race car.
The transformation of Core Scientific from a worn-out 'old car' to a hot 'race car' is a rollercoaster story. Next year, its fate will depend on the pace of the ai revolution.