Core Scientific Closes Polaris Deal to Expand Oklahoma AI Campus

Core Scientific (NASDAQ: CORZ) completed its acquisition of Polaris DS LLC, securing land and power infrastructure that will underpin a planned expansion of its Muskogee, Oklahoma, data-center campus to 1.5 gigawatts of gross capacity.

Polaris controls about 440 megawatts of utility power under agreements with Oklahoma Gas & Electric, according to Core Scientific’s announcement on Friday. The acquired assets include roughly 40 acres adjacent to Core Scientific’s existing operation and an electrical substation.

The companies agreed to the transaction in May for approximately $421 million in cash, subject to customary adjustments. The price may increase by $40 million if another 40 megawatts of firm capacity becomes available by Dec. 31, according to the merger filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Closing the deal gives Core Scientific control of a large block of energized infrastructure at a time when access to electricity has become a critical constraint on new artificial-intelligence data centers. Still, the Polaris assets account for less than one-third of the campus’s planned 1.5-gigawatt gross capacity.

Reaching that target — equivalent to about 1 gigawatt of power available for customers — will also depend on additional grid connections and a planned behind-the-meter power system. Core Scientific said in May that utility load studies were underway and that it had secured about 250 acres for the broader development. The company has also begun constructing an unleased 82.5-megawatt building, with initial delivery targeted for the fourth quarter of 2027. The original expansion announcement said the Polaris purchase would accelerate the availability of capacity for prospective customers.

The investment is part of Core Scientific’s shift away from bitcoin mining and toward high-density colocation for AI workloads. The company reported $136.7 million of colocation revenue in the second quarter, up from $77.5 million in the preceding three months, while total revenue reached $164.2 million. It was billing for 437 megawatts as of mid-July, representing about $635 million in average annualized colocation revenue, according to its second-quarter results.

That expansion is capital intensive. Core Scientific reported $797.5 million of second-quarter capital expenditure, more than double the first-quarter level. Liquidity stood at about $1.82 billion at the end of June, including cash and digital assets.

The company’s ability to convert the Muskogee power pipeline into leased, revenue-producing capacity will depend on completing construction, securing additional electricity and signing customers for space that has not yet been contracted.