TeraWulf Stock Rises After 1 GW Kentucky AI Campus Acquisition

TeraWulf (NASDAQ: WULF) shares rose about 8% in pre-market trading on Tuesday after the company said it acquired a large-scale data center development site in Eastern Kentucky, expanding its pipeline for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing infrastructure.

TeraWulf said the newly acquired Muskie Data Campus is expected to support more than 1 gigawatt of data center capacity over time, with the first 500 megawatts scheduled to begin ramping in the second half of 2028. A second 500 MW phase is targeted for delivery in the second half of 2030, according to the announcement.

The site was acquired from Industrial Equity Partners and is located within the 1,000-acre EastPark Industrial Park in northeastern Kentucky. TeraWulf said the campus includes about 285 acres of owned and controlled land, with optional adjacent acreage available for future expansion.

The acquisition underscores how former and current Bitcoin mining companies are increasingly competing for power-rich sites that can be converted into AI and HPC infrastructure. TeraWulf has been among the more aggressive miners in repositioning itself around contracted data center revenue, rather than relying solely on Bitcoin mining economics.

A key part of the Muskie site is its grid access. Kentucky Power, an American Electric Power unit, is building a 345 kV substation connected to the existing 765 kV transmission network to support the campus. TeraWulf said transmission infrastructure and energy service agreements were executed alongside the acquisition, giving the project a defined pathway to long-term power delivery.

The company also said the site is already zoned for its intended use, with permitting activities underway and limited site work needed before data center construction can begin. That detail is likely central to investor reaction, as access to power, transmission and permitting timelines have become major bottlenecks for AI infrastructure development.

“This acquisition further reinforces the strategy we discussed on our first quarter earnings call: securing and developing large-scale, power-advantaged sites capable of supporting the next generation of HPC workloads,” Chief Executive Officer Paul Prager said in the statement. He added that the market’s defining constraint is “power, transmission infrastructure, and execution certainty.”

The Muskie campus will be TeraWulf’s second major digital infrastructure project in Kentucky, following its 480 MW Justified Data campus in Hancock County. In February, the company also announced acquisitions in Kentucky and Maryland that it said added 1.5 GW of load capacity and more than doubled its platform to 2.8 GW across five sites.

TeraWulf’s pivot has already begun to show up in its financial results. The company reported $34 million in first-quarter revenue, including $21 million from HPC lease revenue, and said it had 60 MW of operational critical IT HPC capacity for Core42 at its Lake Mariner site as of March 31. It also reported about $3.1 billion of cash and restricted cash at quarter-end.

The deal comes as large-load growth from data centers is drawing growing scrutiny across U.S. power markets. In PJM, the regional grid operator that includes parts of Kentucky, the market monitor said data center load growth has been the primary driver of recent capacity market stress and higher prices, warning that large new loads could continue to affect power costs unless new rules require them to bring dedicated generation or be curtailable.

For TeraWulf, however, the Muskie acquisition adds another long-dated option on the AI infrastructure buildout. The company said the project is expected to generate construction activity, skilled employment, workforce development initiatives, infrastructure investment and tax revenue for the region over time.