Core Scientific plans year-end exit from bitcoin mining

Core Scientific expects to complete its withdrawal from bitcoin mining by the end of 2026, accelerating its transformation from a cryptocurrency producer into a high-density data-center landlord serving artificial-intelligence workloads.

Chief Executive Adam Sullivan and Chief Financial Officer Jim Nygaard set out the timetable during the company’s November 5 third-quarter earnings call. Management said Core Scientific had nearly 50% fewer mining machines operating on September 30 than at the end of 2025 and expected to enter 2027 as a pure-play colocation provider.

The exit has not occurred yet. Core Scientific was still earning revenue from its own bitcoin fleet and from hosting third-party miners during the quarter ended September 30. Completion depends on retiring, selling or otherwise monetizing the remaining equipment and finishing the associated facility conversions.

Mining has become a small part of the business

Core Scientific’s quarterly filing shows how far the transition had progressed by September 30. Third-quarter self-mining revenue was $12.3 million, down from $57.4 million in the corresponding 2025 quarter. Hosted-mining revenue declined to $5.2 million from $8.7 million over the same comparison.

Colocation revenue, meanwhile, reached $215.4 million out of $232.9 million in total quarterly revenue. That equals approximately 92.5%, based on a Coinburn calculation from the filed figures and rounded to one decimal place. The ratio describes revenue composition during one quarter; it is not a measure of profit, customer diversification or future growth.

Across the nine months ended September 30, the company said self-mining supplied 12% of total revenue, compared with 78% during the equivalent 2025 period. Bitcoin production fell 53% year over year during that nine-month window, while the company’s average bitcoin price declined 28%. Those figures explain the reported revenue contraction but do not isolate how much of it resulted from deliberately switching off miners rather than changing network economics or bitcoin prices.

Core Scientific is no longer purchasing equipment to maintain or expand its mining hashrate. Its filing says the remaining fleet is being managed to generate cash and cover power costs while facilities are converted, with retired machines potentially sold or otherwise monetized.

The conversion carries costs and new dependencies

The company recorded a $266.5 million impairment on mining-related property and infrastructure in the first quarter of 2026. During the nine months ended September 30, it also recognized a $21 million loss after classifying certain mining and data-center equipment as held for sale. These are accounting measurements tied to the transition, not estimates of future shutdown expenses or cash recoveries from equipment sales.

At the same reporting date, Core Scientific had contracted 1,120 megawatts of customer power capacity and was billing for 485 megawatts. Bringing the balance into service remains subject to construction schedules, permitting, equipment availability, interconnections and customer deployment.

Capital requirements are substantial. Core Scientific reported $1.5 billion of capital expenditure during the first nine months of 2026, including $180.9 million funded by CoreWeave under an existing agreement. Management said access to financing will help determine the pace of additional data-center development.

A planned exit, not a completed shutdown

The strategic direction is supported by both management’s November 5 remarks and the filed decline in mining activity. The exact year-end completion date remains forward-looking, however. The reviewed records do not provide a site-by-site shutdown schedule, the number of machines still operating, expected equipment-sale proceeds or confirmation that every hosted-mining obligation has ended.

The next verifiable milestone will be a filing or operational update confirming that mining revenue and production have ceased. Until then, Core Scientific is winding down bitcoin mining while operating both businesses, rather than having already left the sector.