Core Scientific Targets End of Bitcoin Mining by 2026

Core Scientific plans to end its Bitcoin mining operations by the close of 2026 as it focuses on artificial intelligence and high-performance computing infrastructure.

During Thursday’s third-quarter earnings call, Chief Financial Officer Jim Nygaard outlined the target: “We expect to complete the wind-down during the fourth quarter and enter 2027 as a pure-play, high-density colocation provider.”

The company had previously disclosed that its hosted mining operations would end by Dec. 31 while it reduced self-mining. The latest plan sets a completion date for the company’s full exit from Bitcoin mining.

Core Scientific reported $232.9 million in third-quarter revenue. Bitcoin mining generated $17.5 million, or 7.5% of the total. Colocation services generated $215.4 million.

Revenue from self-mining fell to $12.3 million from $57.4 million a year earlier. Revenue from hosting other miners declined to $5.2 million from $8.7 million. Nygaard reported that the company had nearly 50% fewer miners online at the end of September 2026 than at the end of 2025.

Core Scientific began expanding into AI hosting in 2024. It signed an initial hosting agreement with CoreWeave in March of that year and announced a larger deal in June. At the time, the company described AI hosting as an addition to its Bitcoin mining business and said it planned to preserve mining capacity.

The company recorded $266.5 million in impairments on mining-related assets in the first quarter of 2026. It attributed the charge to lower Bitcoin prices, historically low hashprice and lower resale values for mining equipment. Hashprice measures the revenue miners earn from supplying computing power to the Bitcoin network.

In the second quarter, Core Scientific ended a mining equipment agreement with Block and Proto. It recorded a $41.9 million loss related to the transition.

By December 2025, the company had been targeting an end to Bitcoin mining by 2028. The latest plan moves that target to the end of 2026.

The planned exit follows increased scrutiny of U.S. data-center expansion after the 2026 midterm elections. Opponents of some data-center projects have raised concerns about electricity costs and the demands large facilities place on local power and other resources.

Reviewed and fact-checked by Alex Panasenko on November 6.