Core Scientific Prepays $21.3M for Block’s Bitcoin Miners with Q3 Delivery

Core Scientific (NASDAQ: CORZ) has made a $21.3 million prepayment to Block, Inc. as part of its previous preorder for 15 EH/s of Bitcoin ASIC miners designed by Block’s Proton team.

In its 2024 annual report, Core noted that payments for the 15 EH/s 3-nanometer mining chips are due in installments six months before delivery, which is expected to begin by the second half of 2025.

Core said that it made the $21.3 million prepayment on January 15, under its agreement with Block, and anticipates making additional payments over the next year, depending on further deliveries.

Core initially announced the preorder in July 2024, along with a $10 million deposit. Block’s Proto team will co-design a mining platform for Core, alongside ePIC Blockchain. However, the companies did not specify a delivery timeline at that time.

New details in Core’s annual report now provide additional insights into the company’s Bitcoin mining expansion schedule, alongside its high-performance computing (HPC) hosting ambitions.

Notably, Core’s Bitcoin mining market share dropped to 1.82% in January 2025, down from 3.27% a year earlier, due to increased competition and Core’s decision to pause purchases of ASIC miners from Bitmain while switching to a new vendor.

According to Core’s annual report, Bitcoin mining still constitutes the majority of its operating revenue, contributing nearly $80 million in the last quarter, or approximately 84%. Revenue from the HPC hosting segment fell to $8.52 million in the fourth quarter, a decrease of 17.57% compared to the third quarter.

Core also announced on Wednesday that it has expanded its HPC hosting capacity agreement with CoreWeave by an additional 70 megawatts at its Denton, Texas, data center. CoreWeave is reportedly preparing to file for a $4 billion IPO within the next week.

Core’s stock price rose 17% during pre-market trading on Thursday.