Can Core Scientific’s Business Pay For Its Spending?
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Core Scientific (CORZ) has built five data center campuses for its colocation customer CoreWeave, and it is now constructing sites for AMD. Over the last twelve months, the company’s capital spending came to $1.78 billion, compared with $146 million in the twelve months to September 2023. What share of its sales would you guess that bill now comes to?
How Big Is Core Scientific’s Spending Bill?
Over the last twelve months, Core Scientific’s capital spending equaled 301.4% of its sales, compared with 30.2% in the twelve months to September 2023. In dollars, the bill is 12.3 times what it was. This spending is still growing: in the quarter to September 2026, the company spent 121.2% more than in the same quarter a year earlier.
Can Core Scientific Pay For It?
The company cannot pay for this from its business alone. In the quarter to September 2026, Core Scientific spent far more than its business brought in, as capital spending came to 828.2% of that cash, compared with 185.5% in the same quarter a year earlier.
| Fiscal quarter | Capital spending | Cash the business brought in | Cash left over |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q2 FY2025 (ended 2025-06-30) | $121 million | $34.0 million | -$87.2 million |
| Q3 FY2025 (ended 2025-09-30) | $244 million | $132 million | -$113 million |
| Q4 FY2025 (ended 2025-12-31) | $289 million | $158 million | -$132 million |
| Q1 FY2026 (ended 2026-03-31) | $389 million | $250 million | -$139 million |
| Q2 FY2026 (ended 2026-06-30) | $565 million | -$18.9 million | -$584 million |
| Q3 FY2026 (ended 2026-09-30) | $541 million | $65.3 million | -$475 million |
Each row is one fiscal quarter. Cash left over is the cash the business brought in minus the spending (free cash flow). The spending leaves out equipment taken on through leases.
The cash left after spending fell short by about four times as much as a year earlier, remaining below zero in all of the last four quarters. Three years ago, the business still covered its smaller bill over twelve months, but now it does not.
This gap must come from cash and financing. At the end of September, Core Scientific held $804 million in cash and short-term investments, compared with $4.30 billion of total debt. Management said it has already paid its own equity share of the first AMD sites from cash on hand, and it plans to borrow the rest, most likely through project bonds. It also expects about $650 million in cash when warrants are exercised around January 2027.
What Has The Spending Bought So Far?
Over the three years, Core Scientific’s sales grew 22.9%. Within that period, in 2025, sales from hosting Bitcoin miners fell, while colocation sales more than doubled. Most of the capacity it bills for arrived in 2026. The company is now billing customers for 485 MW, up from 120 MW at the beginning of the year, management said.
The company spent $2.34 billion over those three years, while its business now brings in $294 million more cash a year. It would take about eight years for this extra cash to equal what was spent, though cash can grow for other reasons too. Management also said CoreWeave funded most of the build-out at its sites.
What Must Go Right For Core Scientific
Management expects to exit Bitcoin mining in the fourth quarter and enter 2027 as a pure-play colocation provider. The next sites are for AMD, with the first due to start coming online at Pecos in the first half of 2027. These sites require heavy investment before they bring in revenue, management said, and the company’s focus going into early 2027 is on lining up the rest of their project financing.
The cash left after spending each quarter, which fell short again in the quarter to September, is the figure to watch when Core Scientific next reports, expected in March 2027.
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