CORZ Core Scientific, Inc.

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Core Scientific, Inc. Q3 F2026 Earnings Call Transcript

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Conference Operator
Operator
Greetings and welcome to the Core Scientific Fiscal Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to your host, John Charbonneau, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
John Charbonneau
Senior Vice President, Investor Relations, Core Scientific
Good morning and welcome to Core Scientific's third quarter 2026 earnings call. Before we begin, statements made on this call, other than historical facts, are forward-looking statements within the meeting of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on our current expectations. Words such as anticipates, estimates, expects, intends, and believes, and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ substantially. For more information, please review the risk factors discussed in the company's reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K filed today with the SEC, along with the press release and slide presentation included in those filings. Our forward-looking statements speak only as of today. We undertake no obligation to update them to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. Today's presentation is available on our website, investors.corescientific.com. The information on this call is accurate only as of November 5th, 2026. Joining me today are Core Scientific's Chief Executive Officer, Adam Sullivan, and Chief Financial Officer, Jim Nygaard. We will hold a question and answer session after management's remarks.
Adam Sullivan
Chief Executive Officer, Core Scientific
Adam, over to you. Thanks, John, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our Q3 2026 earnings call. Beginning approximately two years ago, we announced a series of co-location agreements with Corweave, providing for the development at Corweave's expense of 590 megawatts. While many questioned the strength of this arrangement and its potential to support our future growth, we executed. Today, we have built five data center campuses and we are billing our customer for a total of 485 megawatts. The remaining 100 megawatts is currently in commissioning and we'll begin recognizing additional revenue over the course of the next few months. In addition, these contracts enabled us to raise over $3 billion to fund our next phase of growth and has established a reputation for delivery that helped us win our latest customer contract. At the same time, uncertainty around new data center development in Texas, Georgia, and elsewhere makes our completed operating sites already serving customers and our sites in advanced development with secure power and near-term capacity even more valuable. Our execution has delivered tangible results. Gap co-location revenue increased nearly 60% sequentially. will adjusted EBITDA reach over $130 million, up from 41 in the second quarter. We expect further growth as the remaining CoreWeave capacity comes online in the coming months. As we approach completion of that build-out, we are also advancing the initial 530 megawatts contracted by AMD. With over 1.1 gigawatts contracted between CoreWeave and AMD and 1.9 gigawatts under reservation with AMD, We have tremendous confidence in our ability to scale. Investors have had much to assess in recent months from risks in Texas to concerns about financing and access to capital across the AI industry. Today, I will address those topics directly and explain where Core Scientific stands. I'll begin with this week's midterm election results and their implications for Core Scientific as regulatory developments have understandably been a focus for investors. Our outlook for our currently contracted capacity is unchanged. We do not expect the election results to affect our existing operations or delivery timelines for capacity under development. Our confidence rests on our execution, development progress, and our community relationships. As we have brought hundreds of megawatts online under our first customer contract, we have worked closely with local officials, utilities, and community stakeholders Two of the campuses supporting our AMD contract already have operating data center capacity for our other customers, giving us development certainty and affording us the opportunity to build on established operations and relationships. We have also advanced our projects through the increased permitting and regulatory review introduced this year. Our sites received conditional classifications consistent with our expectations under ERCOT's Batch Zero process, and we continue to work through the remaining requirements. We are confident that our operating facilities in the remaining capacity left to be delivered within the next few months will continue to operate in this new landscape without interruption. In Oklahoma and Alabama, we expect continued support for responsible data center investment. In Muskogee, Governor Stitt and Governor-elect Mazzie have supported our development and expansion plans, recognizing the jobs, investment, and economic activity these projects bring to their communities. In Alabama, Governor-elect Tuberville is supportive of data center development with a focus on protecting prices for local citizens. Core Scientific is fully aligned with their positioning as we funded more than $12 million in infrastructure investments, including transmission upgrades that provide grid hardening protections for the Auburn region. In Georgia and Texas, we expect the incoming administrations to emphasize responsible data center development. We have operated in both states for years and have established relationships with local officials and utilities.
Jim Nygaard
Chief Financial Officer, Core Scientific
Our approach remains consistent.
Adam Sullivan
Chief Executive Officer, Core Scientific
Address community concerns directly and fully fund the infrastructure our projects require. At Dalton, we have delivered over 70 megawatts of billing capacity to our customer and expect approximately another 100 megawatts to come online in the coming months. Construction for our first customer is well advanced, and we continue to coordinate closely with the local utilities and community stakeholders as we complete the remaining capacity and begin to build for our second customer. In Texas, Pecos remains on schedule for initial delivery in the first half of 2027. Both Pecos and Hunt have secured their stormwater permits, and we expect their backup generators to qualify for authorization under the applicable permit by rule framework. These milestones support our development schedules as we advance the remaining requirements. At Hunt, our campus has been included in the November Quarterly Stability Assessment, an important and final milestone on its path to energization. Responsible development means making tangible investments in our communities. We have invested more than $700,000 in road improvements and in Muskogee contributed $13 million towards the utility-owned substation and switch yard supporting our project. These investments reflect our commitment to funding the infrastructure our developments require and supporting the communities where we operate. Regulatory requirements will continue to evolve and our experience navigating those requirements together with the progress already made across our campuses gives us confidence in our ability to execute. Next, let me turn to financing. Sustained demand for AI infrastructure creates both a significant opportunity and an extraordinary need for capital. Facilities require substantial investment before they generate revenue, so access to financing will increasingly shape the pace of development. We believe securing capital on attractive terms will be an important competitive differentiator. Notably, we have already invested from cash on hand all the equity capital required from Core Scientific for the initial 530 megawatts under the A&B contract. And going into early 2027, our focus is on securing the remaining project financing to support delivery of our commitments. We are progressing through due diligence for potential project bonds and working with leading financial institutions to determine the best financing path. While project bonds remain our expected approach, we are also evaluating other debt financing options to balance cost of capital, flexibility, and execution certainty as market conditions continue to evolve. We believe our execution on the CoreWeave contract has helped establish credibility with potential lenders and financial institutions, positioning us well to compete for capital. Turning to CoreWeave. The increased focus on financing across the AI industry has brought greater scrutiny to CoreWeave and the Neocloud business model. We remain confident in CoreWeave's long-term position in the AI ecosystem. For our facilities, CoreWeave has already funded the overwhelming majority of the build-out, which is nearing completion. We are now billing for 485 megawatts of the 590 megawatts contracted across five campuses, up from 120 megawatts at the beginning of the year. Dalton Phase 2 is the only facility still under construction, and we remain on track to deliver the remaining approximately 100 megawatts by early next year. The substantial investment required to build these facilities has therefore already been made. That upfront investment also brought down Corweave's ongoing lease rate, which we believe makes our facilities among the most economically attractive in its portfolio. With its billed costs already spent, we believe retaining this capacity allows CoreWeave to preserve favorable economics while continuing to serve end customers whose workloads are already running within our campuses. In addition to those economic incentives, our agreements include contractual protections. At certain campuses, payments are made through special purpose vehicles supported by end customer commitments, with CoreWeave remaining the ultimate guarantor. We also retain a security interest perfected by UCC filings on our data center infrastructure until ownership of the infrastructure transfers to Core Scientific at the end of the contract. We believe CoreWeave's scale, expanding customer base, and strategic relationships position it well for the long term. Our focus remains on delivering and operating the infrastructure that support its growth. Our execution on the CoreWeek buildouts played a central role in earning AMD's business and securing the initial 530 megawatts contracted across five campuses. AMD could see the results firsthand, operating facilities across multiple locations and a team that had delivered complex infrastructure at scale. That track record, together with the quality of our power and real estate portfolio, gave AMD confidence in our ability to support its deployment plans. AMD's initial commitment builds on our established design, and we continue to work closely with its team on co-design initiatives to support future requirements as its technology roadmap continues to evolve. Though they represent less than half of our total contracted capacity today, the AMD contract directly or through credit support represents over half of our contracted stabilized NOI. Delivery of that 530 megawatt commitment remains on track to begin at Pecos in the first half of 2027, with approximately half of the 530 megawatts expected to come online next year and the balance throughout 2028. Beyond the initial 530 megawatts, AMD holds exclusive reservation rights for approximately 1.9 gigawatts of additional capacity across Muskogee, Hunt, and Pecos. Commitment deadlines generally fall on a quarterly basis with the overwhelming majority of these advanced commitments required to be made in 2027 and the final deadline at the end of 2028. In agreement with AMD, we are not disclosing individual deadlines. For any additional capacity AMD commits to, we expect pricing to reflect the agreed upon basis of design, prevailing rates, and development costs at that time with the objective of maintaining substantially similar returns. We expect to support those commitments through a combination of incremental grid connected power, capacity progressing through load studies, and behind the meter solutions. This includes approximately 385 megawatts of incremental grid connected power already secured split equally between Muskogee and Hunt County expected to be available by mid-2028. In signing the initial 530 megawatts, we have worked with AMD to conduct due diligence on multiple vendors for behind-the-meter solutions. In parallel, we have advanced development of a dedicated natural gas pipeline interconnection at Pecos. The proposed 10.6-mile pipeline would connect the site to the existing natural gas transmission infrastructure, supporting potential onsite power generation and unlocking additional capacity for future expansion. This work positions us to move forward as conditions become more certain and our plans align with AMD's needs. Before I turn the call over to Jim, let me put our growth opportunity in perspective. We have approximately 1.1 gigawatts contracted across Core, Weave, and AMD. Once fully delivered and billing, we expect that portfolio loan to generate $1.8 billion in average annual run rate revenue and $1.6 billion in NOI. Delivering that capacity remains our priority. We are also simplifying the business to focus our resources on more attractive long-term growth opportunities. We expect to complete our exit from Bitcoin mining by year end. Beyond our existing contracts and AMD's reservation rights, we continue to evaluate approximately two gigawatts of potential capacity at new sites with power energization expected in 2029 and beyond. The current environment is also creating a broader range of acquisition opportunities. In recent months, we have seen more assets offered for sale from powered land to facilities under construction to projects with customer contracts already in place. The opportunities right now are abundant. Our operating scale and demonstrate execution gives us an advantage in evaluating those opportunities. With a business already generating substantial revenue and adjusted EBITDA, We can assess what an acquisition would add to our portfolio and how effectively we could develop, operate, and finance it. The right opportunity could accelerate delivery, reduce development costs, or add contracted revenue. We intend to be selective, pursuing acquisitions that meet our return requirements while preserving the capital and management attention needed to deliver our existing commitments. Our immediate focus is on completing the core we build out and delivering the AMD program while positioning the business to expand our site portfolio and our customer base. We have substantial growth already under contract through 2028, the capabilities to execute on it, and opportunities to extend it even further. We are excited about where CoreScientific is today and believe the broader market backdrop will open up new opportunities for our business. With that, I'll turn the call over to Jim.
Jim Nygaard
Chief Financial Officer, Core Scientific
Thanks, Adam. We continued to execute on our co-location build-outs in the third quarter, bringing another 90 megawatts into billing. Those deliveries, together with a full quarter contribution from capacity delivered in the second quarter, drove a significant increase in our financial results. GAAP co-location revenue grew nearly 60% sequentially to $215 million. while adjusted EBITDA more than tripled to $134 million from $41 million in the second quarter. This also drove a meaningful expansion in adjusted EBITDA margin to 57% from 25% last quarter. Looking ahead, we are expecting a double digit sequential increase in fourth quarter revenue as we continue to bill for additional megawatts and benefit from a full quarter of revenue from prior deliveries. As a reminder, under GAAP, revenue from the CoreWeave contracts is recognized on a straight line basis over the 12-year lease terms, effectively pulling forward contractual escalators. Moving on to our Bitcoin mining business, we continue to wind down operations during the quarter, with nearly 50% fewer miners online at the end of September than at year-end 2025. We expect to complete the wind down during the fourth quarter and enter 2027 as a pure play high density colocation provider. On the expense side, third quarter cash SG&A was approximately $28 million, slightly below the second quarter, which included one-time professional fees related to our bond issuance. While we are not providing formal SG&A guidance, We continue to view the low $30 million range as a reasonable quarterly baseline, with some variability as we make targeted investments to support growth. Turning to liquidity and financing, we ended the third quarter with approximately $1.7 billion of liquidity, comprised of approximately $800 million in cash, approximately $840 million in restricted cash and debt service reserves, and $100 million of revolver availability. We included restricted cash in this measure, which consists of funds held in escrow for certain utility and development costs. Liquidity declined approximately $1 billion from the second quarter, reflecting $540 million in capital expenditures primarily related to AMD sites and approximately $440 million for the Polaris acquisition. With our equity contribution to the initial 530 megawatt build-out already invested, our financing efforts are focused on the remaining capital needed to complete these projects. Project bonds remain our expected approach, and we continue to advance that process with our financing partners as we look ahead to 2027. We are also evaluating other debt financing options to secure an attractive cost of capital as market conditions evolve. We do not expect to issue additional equity or equity-linked securities to fund the first phase of the AMD build-out. We also currently expect approximately $650 million in cash proceeds from the exercise of our Tranche 1 warrants around their January 2027 expiration, further supporting our liquidity. Beyond our existing Core, Weave, and AMD commitments, we will maintain a high bar for capital deployment including new site acquisitions and development of uncontracted capacity. We intend to preserve our financial flexibility to pursue attractive opportunities while prioritizing delivery of the projects already underway. From the $1 billion financing facility announced in March to our $3.3 billion senior secured bond issuance in April, we have consistently demonstrated our ability to secure capital to support our growth. Our focus today continues to be on execution at every level in our organization to ensure the efficient deployment of that capital for the long term. With that, I'll hand the call back to the operator for Q&A.
Conference Operator
Operator
Thank you. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star 2 if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star keys. We ask that you each keep to one question and one follow-up. Thank you. Our first question comes from the line of John Todaro with Needham & Company. Please proceed with your question.
John Todaro
Analyst, Needham & Company
Hey guys, thanks for taking my question and congrats on all the progress thus far. I guess the first one just following the election. And it sounds like there's a lot of confidence, but just I guess if we could drill into a bit more, is there kind of any risk to the PUC in December, any delays to kind of that final baseload review or any expectations there?
Adam Sullivan
Chief Executive Officer, Core Scientific
Yeah, I appreciate the question, John. I mean, I think that the differentiating factor for our sites is really a few fold. The first is just the status of where those contracts or where those buildings currently sit and the status of our development. You know, Pecos, I'm sure you've seen the videos. You know, we have a building in place, chillers set. We're working on the interior there. That's a site that's going to come online in early 2027. And as a reminder, that was a Bitcoin mining site. So a site that had already been energized. So an extraordinarily low risk proposition in Pecos. Hunt, we feel very similar. A site that was approved for power back in 2027 is going, or sorry, 2024, Looking at what's coming up in November related to the upcoming study that ERCOT will be performing, that's really the final stages. It generally happens one to two quarters before energization. So we have a lot of confidence in the delivery of that site as well, also making tremendous progress on the construction side. So we view our two sites that are in Texas today that are under development as very low risk.
John Todaro
Analyst, Needham & Company
Great, exactly what I was hoping to hear. And then second question, just on the debt financing you guys talked about for the A&D leases, is there just any gating items to maybe calling out to getting that done?
Jim Nygaard
Chief Financial Officer, Core Scientific
So we're in the process, as we've mentioned in prior comments, of optimizing the package of financing that we are intending to bring to market. Keep in mind that we have five different locations that we're building at. There are technically five separate leases, so we do have some options as to how we package and sequence, and that's what we're trying to do as we speak. So as you can imagine, we've been working with our financing partners and the rating agencies, and the liquidity that we've been able to establish on our balance sheet has afforded us the flexibility to do that in a very disciplined manner. Great. Understood. Thank you, gentlemen. I appreciate it. Thanks, Sean.
Conference Operator
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Darren Avtahi with Lucid Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question.
Darren Aftahi
Analyst, Lucid Capital Markets
Yeah, good morning. Thanks for taking the question. Question on AMD and the reservation rights. If, you know, politically the wind blows a different way, are there adjustments on those commitment deadlines in 2027 and 2028? And then I guess just back to Texas with your two sites, and I appreciate all the color. If the governor was to kind of put in legislation after the fact when she takes office, is there anything that could be sort of clawed back that would delay the process? And I guess when we were at your site visit, you had your lobbyist there. I mean, any kind of real-time thoughts on what the political landscape in Texas might mean in a more draconian scenario? Thanks.
Adam Sullivan
Chief Executive Officer, Core Scientific
Yeah, thanks, Darren. Appreciate the questions. As it relates to the reservation rights, I think from our expectation, based on the pathway over the course of 2027, there are some chunkier deadlines over the course of 2027 that we expect to see AMD exercising for additional capacity. And I think from the standpoint of any potential delays as it relates to potential political headwinds, Obviously, we're in daily dialogue with the AMD team, so we're working hand-in-hand across any headwinds that we're facing anywhere across our portfolio. In Texas, I think the great part for us is, you know, in Texas, things are never done retroactively. You know, it's a business-friendly state, and given where we stand with our permits and where we are at with construction and energization, we have very strong confidence in our ability to deliver those sites on time based on our existing schedules.
Darren Aftahi
Analyst, Lucid Capital Markets
Appreciate it, thanks.
Adam Sullivan
Chief Executive Officer, Core Scientific
Thanks, Sam.
Conference Operator
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Brett Knobloch with Cantor Fitzgerald. Please proceed with your question.
Brett Knoblauch
Analyst, Cantor Fitzgerald
Hi, guys. Thank you for taking my question. On the AMD expansion, obviously there's a lot of power and a lot of that's coming or is expected to come from behind the meter. Have you guys filed for the necessary permits for the behind-the-meter generation yet, and is that something that you think you can do once maybe the permit freeze ends post-completion of the audit? And then as just a follow-up question to get it out of the way here, the warranted exercise in January, what is the current game plan for the cash influx you're about to receive there? Would you consider repurchasing shares so it's net dilutive, or would you use that to maybe go fund out some, you know, are used as an equity investment for additional data center expansion. Thank you.
Adam Sullivan
Chief Executive Officer, Core Scientific
Yeah, thanks, Brett. I'll take the first one, and then I'll hand it over to Jim for your question related to the warrants. As we are going through this process behind the meter, there are a few necessary steps. We obviously talked about bringing the lateral pipe to our site, the 10.6-mile pipe, to allow for the opportunity to build a power plant on site. Part two of that, which is related to your question related to air permits, we have not filed for the air permits. That's going to be done in conjunction with the IPP that we ultimately choose. We have a narrowed list of IPPs that we're considering here as part of the ongoing process, not only selecting IPPs, but also selecting the generation units that we'll be using on the other side. Both of those are important necessary next steps and we're working hand in hand with AMD today to choose who that right partner and the right equipment that will be used at that site. As it relates to the warrants, Jim, I'll let you take that question.
Jim Nygaard
Chief Financial Officer, Core Scientific
We do have liquidity coming in from the exercise of the cash only warrants in January. It is our expectation that we will prioritize that capital as we discussed in prior public comments that it's primarily going to be diverted to our proactive bills going forward. We expect the reservations will be exercised over time, and we're going to need that capital to effectively deploy as equity in those sites. So that's going to continue to be the priority as to how we think about capital allocation. Perfect. Thank you, guys. Thanks, Brett.
Conference Operator
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Don Peterson with Jefferies. Please proceed with your question.
Jonathan Petersen
Analyst, Jefferies
Oh, great. Thanks. I'm curious to maybe, Jim, get a little more color on what you're seeing in the project financing market to finance some of the AMD builds. What sort of change in terms of covenants that they're looking at, kind of loan-to-cost levels that lenders are willing to lend on today? Are you seeing any of that change? Does it just kind of feel paused until next year and maybe interest rates settle down?
Jim Nygaard
Chief Financial Officer, Core Scientific
The first thing I would say to address your question is that the project bond market is absolutely open. I would tell you just in general, as the market has continued to evolve, the amount of diligence and questions that are asked have, I think, become a bit more comprehensive. So there's a strong desire to really nailed down a lot of the details that are behind these bills. As everyone knows, these are complicated projects. And, you know, everything from the investor's standpoint, all of the constituents involved in that process want to make sure that there's clear line of sight on the variables that matter. So from that standpoint, there really has not been any change that we've seen by way of terms or covenants. And at the end of the day, What we're really excited about is aligning with AMD. That was one of the key decision-making criteria that we focused on when deciding to go with AMD earlier and late this summer is the strength of their credit profile that they bring to this exercise. They're very early in their CapEx deployment cycle. There's not a lot of AMD paper out there for what we're about to do, and the market has a strong appetite for it. We're very confident in what we're about to bring to market here.
Jonathan Petersen
Analyst, Jefferies
Okay, that's great. It's great to see the recurring revenue line move up and the adjusted EBITDA margins also trend higher. As we think over the next few years, as you start to stabilize all these projects, where should we think about EBITDA at the corporate level margins trending towards?
Jim Nygaard
Chief Financial Officer, Core Scientific
Yeah, we have not provided specific EBITDA level guidance at this stage. As we continue to start 27 with a very clean P&L, we're very excited about that because we will not have mining in our numbers anymore. And I think it's going to be a great fresh start for investors to understand what a true co-location P&L will look like. What we have guided to is directionally on the revenue and NOI potential that are behind the contracts. And we've also indicated a rough corporate SG&A cash spend that's in that $30-ish million range per quarter. So when you do the math on both of those, you can start to coalesce around what EBITDA would look like for the organization on a consolidated basis.
Jonathan Petersen
Analyst, Jefferies
Great. Thank you, guys. Appreciate it.
Conference Operator
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Nick Giles with B Reilly Securities. Please proceed with your question.
Nick Giles
Analyst, B. Riley Securities
Yeah, thanks, operator. Good morning, guys. One of your peers yesterday announced a deal with one of the frontier labs using kind of tenant brought modules. And I was just curious if this is a structure that you've explored or kind of what shifts you're seeing more broadly in design from a tenant perspective. Thanks.
Adam Sullivan
Chief Executive Officer, Core Scientific
Yeah, I'll answer the first part of the question. Then I have Matt Brown, our chief operating officer here with me as well. The first thing I just want to say before handing it over is just, you know, that was an incredible deal that Riot announced yesterday. You know, we're incredibly excited about what they're building out in Corsicana. And, you know, I think it sets a pretty big new high watermark for the industry. But Matt, I'll let you talk about the tenant brought modules. Yeah, I think from
Matt Brown
Chief Operating Officer, Core Scientific
We can expect from our standpoint is we're working really closely with AMD on future designs and you should expect that some of those same customers are going to be tenants in those facilities and also at the table kind of working through our design program sort of collaboratively. So in terms of how we view our program, as it relates to tenant brought modules, it's not something that we've explored a lot. We have a lot of experience in this type of infrastructure as a Bitcoin miner. That was a pretty prevalent infrastructure architecture during that period in the companies. But we'll continue to just work through with AMD and our customers. And if a customer comes to the table that wants a really purpose-built design that gets to lowest cost per token, it will be something that we entertain and we'll just kind of continue to work through that with them.
Nick Giles
Analyst, B. Riley Securities
Makes sense. Thanks, guys. Thanks, Ben.
Conference Operator
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Ben Summers with U.S. Bancorp, BTIG. Please proceed with your question.
Ben Summers
Analyst, BTIG
Hey, good morning, and thank you for taking my question. So I wanted to ask a little bit about what you're hearing for Calvert City and Grand Forks, you know, given that, you know, there are some political headwinds or just, you know, political commentary going around, and given that those sites have approved power today, have conversations there, changed it all over the past couple months?
Adam Sullivan
Chief Executive Officer, Core Scientific
No, the conversation have not changed over the past few months. Both of those sites have hurdles for us to overcome to build data center capacity there. So we're still working through some of those hurdles as we look to bring new sites to market. But I think both of those sites are interesting. Our site in Kentucky in particular with a large power allocation from TVA that's very rare and that availability is rare in the market. So we have a lot of confidence in when we're able to bring those Those sites to market, they will be attractive.
Ben Summers
Analyst, BTIG
Super helpful. And then just one more, if I could. Adam, you made a comment on just seeing more assets being offered for sale over the past few months. Just kind of curious on what you think is driving that and how that impacts your growth capacity plans longer term.
Adam Sullivan
Chief Executive Officer, Core Scientific
Yeah, I appreciate the question. I think the overarching theme right now in the market is capital is the throttle on all new development. Capital will be the throttle to bringing any compute online. And the precursor to that is building new data center infrastructure. And what we're seeing in the market today are not only one-off data center developers, but also some private equity-backed data center companies who are just running out of capital. And I think this is where we talked about before, organic growth is always going to be priority number one. until you get into a market where you're facing headwinds. That headwind today is capital availability. And that's the reason why we're seeing powered land sites as well as even sites with customer contracts going up for sale today. It's really just the amount of headwinds as it relates to getting financing in-house and where your scale currently stands. And we're in a great position significant amount of NOI generation on a quarterly basis, continue to scale our platform, and there might be opportunities for us to execute on that will be accretive to our business.
Ben Summers
Analyst, BTIG
Super helpful. Thank you for taking my questions. Thank you.
Conference Operator
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of George Sutton with Craig Hallam Capital Group. Please proceed with your question.
George Sutton
Analyst, Craig-Hallum Capital Group
Thank you. Just further to the question on the value of powered land, I mean, the generic thought process is this is going to make powered land more valuable, but obviously the financing constraints kind of are a big offset to that. So as we think about valuation opportunities out there, what would you anticipate?
Adam Sullivan
Chief Executive Officer, Core Scientific
It's an interesting situation. The demand is incredibly high for these sites, but it's also limited by capital and the companies that have available capital at any given point in time. So for us right now, the valuations that we're looking at on powered land especially are actually generally still in line with where they were over the course of the past 12 months. It's just demand is getting higher, but the amount of bidders on those projects is getting smaller. It's an interesting dynamic that we're going through right now. But I think for us, the way we're thinking about it is given market headwinds, how can we position ourselves better? This team was built to ride through difficult times. And I think some of that we're seeing as it relates to capital availability for other companies. So we feel good about our opportunity to capitalize on what's in front of us today.
George Sutton
Analyst, Craig-Hallum Capital Group
So you've obviously got incredible growth opportunity in the short to midterm, but as we think about the longer-term pipeline, how much does the election and some of the challenges out there change your thought process relative to breadth of things you're looking at, or does it become more focused? Just curious there.
Adam Sullivan
Chief Executive Officer, Core Scientific
It's a great question, George. I mean, how we're thinking about our long-term development is still along the same lines as it was three days ago prior to the election. We have opportunities to build in front of us. We have locations that we are specifically choosing based on political landscape, local community relationships. And really, we have a lot of experience in this compared to other traditional data center developers. At one point, we were the largest publicly traded Bitcoin mining company. We were in a lot of locations, a lot more locations than other folks in the industry. And we had to deal with the headwinds of being what I'll call the black sheep coming into a local community. We did a fantastic job at engaging with the local community, building relationships, and building, frankly, in new locations that we were less familiar with. So we feel very good about the long-term prospects as we look at the sites that we have under exclusivity. how we're gonna be executing on those going forward. We know that step one, going into any new location, strong engagement at the local level is priority number one, working with state officials as well, and then making sure that we're hiring local and building a true base in that community. So we've run this playbook before. We feel great about where we stand and we look forward to building new locations in our portfolio.
George Sutton
Analyst, Craig-Hallum Capital Group
Great, thank you.
Conference Operator
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Michael Donovan with CompassPoint. Please proceed with your question.
Michael Donovan
Analyst, Compass Point
Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my question and congrats on the progress. I thought we could hone in a little bit more on behind the meter in terms of actual tech solutions that you're using. Are you looking more towards receipts or batteries and really how should we think about utilizing one or the other and is there a difference in and yield on costs that we should expect if one of the other is used. Thanks.
Matt Brown
Chief Operating Officer, Core Scientific
Yeah, I can take the sort of the technology aspect of the question here. You know, every site and portfolio will sort of dictate the project and the location of the project sort of dictates what the solution ends up being. So whether it's fuel cells or receipts or linear generators or Combined Cycle. Every project will have its own nuances that drive to the solution. Some of those are going to be related to emissions and what we could get permitted to do. Some of that's going to be related to other environmental aspects of the site that drive to that. We want to select the right technology for the right location and the right project is our approach to it. You can expect that we've engaged with all that we've evaluated all the technologies Overlaid against all of our existing programs and that we understand which ones are optimal for which use cases Including you know of supply chain timing Etc. So I think we have a pretty good We have a pretty good grasp of kind of how what directions we would go for each each of our sites And all the solutions all the behind-the-meter solutions are using some sort of BESS-type battery. It doesn't matter if it's resips or what. The BESS and the inverters that go with the BESS solution are really required for some of the load smoothing to handle some of the variabilities in IT workloads. So you'd expect there's going to be a battery component to anything we would deploy.
Michael Donovan
Analyst, Compass Point
Great. Appreciate that. That's about moving forward.
Conference Operator
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Steven Gorgola with KBW. Please proceed with your question.
Steven Gorgola
Analyst, KBW
Hi, thanks for the question. I had a TCEQ follow-up from an earlier question. Adam, because what TCEQ permits do you have outstanding for Hunt and Pecos? and then assuming the Bad Shiro data center audits are completed on schedule in December while Abbott's still in office, how do you expect the remaining TCQ permitting process for PECOS and Hunt to proceed in that month or so period before I think it's like the January 19 transition to the governor-elect? Thank you.
Adam Sullivan
Chief Executive Officer, Core Scientific
I appreciate the question, Steven. We're currently working through The air permits at both Pecos and Hunt with TCEQ. Our expectation is that we'll be going through a permit by rule, which is the ability to get a permit essentially by law in the state of Texas for those air permits if we meet certain qualifications. Obviously, if there's any significant headwinds, there's always the availability to do design changes as it relates to your backup generators. which is the only thing that that air permit is for. And so there's always ways for us to potentially mitigate any potential headwinds as it relates to that.
Steven Gorgola
Analyst, KBW
All right, thank you.
Conference Operator
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Kevin Deedy with Jones Trading. Please proceed with your question.
Kevin Dede
Analyst, JonesTrading
Hey, Adam. Thanks for having me on. Nice to talk to you again. Can you just sort of frame up your perspective on load studies across Oklahoma and Pecos 200 megawatts? I know you said that it's a little risk there, but it's a study load. It's not base load. And frame that up against the expectations that AMD has in the timeline.
Adam Sullivan
Chief Executive Officer, Core Scientific
Yeah, absolutely. And I appreciate the question, Kevin. I would label Pecos as load or new supply that we look forward to having a few years from now. Our plans have included really the next two to three buildings in Pecos to be behind the meter developments. So we've been progressing that. Obviously, we're building out the lateral. One of the things as we work through on the Muskogee side, is that we do have an expectation. Right now, we have additional power on grid for us to sell to AMD. We have additional power that's working its way through load study. We're working very closely with OG&E on getting additional power at that location, and we feel very good about that opportunity. So we're looking forward to building the next few buildings in Muskogee on grid. and as we continue through that development based on the sizing and the timelines that AMD is looking to develop, we might be putting a behind the meter building in between potentially power that we already have versus load study power. But that's really yet to be known based on us receiving feedback on that next load study for 600 megawatts total, which would be 400 megawatts of critical.
Kevin Dede
Analyst, JonesTrading
How easily would behind-the-meter combustion be feasible in Muskogee? I know you mentioned an almost 11-mile pipe that you'd need in Pecos. What sort of considerations do you have to work around to manage the same opportunity in Oklahoma?
Adam Sullivan
Chief Executive Officer, Core Scientific
From the perspective of Oklahoma, The state and local government both have been extraordinarily supportive. When we announced our Muskogee project and the acquisition of Polaris earlier this year, Governor Stitt had a quote in our press release as it related to looking forward to us not only continuing to build out in the state of Oklahoma, but also building out behind the meter generation on a go-forward basis. You know, it's been part of Governor Stitt is bringing more generation to the to the state of Oklahoma. We look forward to Governor-Elect Mazie continuing on with that promise to being incredibly supportive of behind the meter generation. From a technical standpoint, there is more distance that we have to travel by lateral pipe. The great part is there is plenty of natural gas in the state of Oklahoma. So we have a great opportunity to grow and expand that site. We have plenty of land to grow it well beyond what our current plans are if the opportunity arises to grow it to that level. So from the status of Oklahoma, we feel great about doing behind the meter there. And from a complication standpoint, it's not higher risk than what we have out in Pecos, Texas today.
Kevin Dede
Analyst, JonesTrading
Yeah, I'd probably assume that even less risk given, I guess, less demand for space and combustion there. But thanks, Adam.
Adam Sullivan
Chief Executive Officer, Core Scientific
Of course. Thank you, Kevin.
Conference Operator
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Ryan Gravitt with UBS. Please proceed with your question.
Ryan Gravett
Analyst, UBS
Great. Thank you. Just any updates in terms of build cost expectations for the current AMD leases, including how much is locked in at this point? And then a separate topic, but just on the two gigawatts of new site opportunities that you're diligencing, Anything you can share at this point in terms of geographic mix or if there's any portion of that pipeline that you feel is particularly well positioned in light of the election outcomes.
Adam Sullivan
Chief Executive Officer, Core Scientific
Thanks. Yeah, I appreciate the question, Ryan. You know, on a cost per megawatt basis, we're still holding true at the 11 to 12 million a megawatt. So there's no change there. I think the great part for us is Prior to signing the A&B contract, we were out in market making commitments and spending capital to secure the OFCI. And part of that was really to make sure that we were locking in as much of that build cost as we possibly could ahead of signing a customer contract and really de-risk the entire program. So from that perspective, we feel great about our existing cost per megawatt there. As it relates to the pipeline, We have a strong geographic mix in that pipeline. We were looking at not only developing in some of the existing states where we currently reside, but also adding some new states to our map. I think that's going to be part of how we're thinking about our new developments is continue to diversify on utilities, continue to diversify on states, and really diversifying that mix across all of these different variables is important to building a diversified portfolio. So we're excited about what's in our pipeline. We think they're very saleable assets once we're able to bring them to market. And we look forward to updating folks in 2027 as it's related to that.
Ryan Gravett
Analyst, UBS
Great, thank you.
Conference Operator
Operator
Thank you. Our final question this morning comes from the line of Brian Dodson with Clear Street. Please proceed with your question.
Brian Dobson
Analyst, Clear Street
Hey, good morning. Thanks very much. You know, as you're engaging existing and potential clients, I guess, what is their reaction to rising building costs and rising borrowing costs? Do you think that, you know, general terms on contracts in terms of like a yield on NOI will remain consistent? Or I guess, what's your viewpoint there for the next 12 months?
Jim Nygaard
Chief Financial Officer, Core Scientific
I appreciate the question. I think with respect to prospective bills going forward and the cost dynamics that are currently present in the market, I mean, certainly customers understand that we are in an evolving market. Financing has become more expensive. I also think there's a fundamental question around basis of design. I think you always have to start with that question when we start talking about the cost to deploy. Unfortunately, in our industry, there's a lot of apples and oranges and grapefruits when we're talking about a build. You've got to be mindful of the geographic region that you're building in. And then fundamentally, what exactly are you building for? And they can have dramatically different impacts on that equation. So, look, I think we're going to continue to see open this on the customer front to find ways to cut costs out of bills. And if that means changing the specifications of what we're delivering with fewer nines of performance because we can tolerate less uptime, that trade off for cost of deployment might make sense in certain circumstances, depending on how those workloads are allocated. So it's a great question. It's going to certainly vary as you go from customer to customer. and the technology that they're wanting to deploy at that location. So unfortunately, it doesn't have a generalized answer other than when costs are going up, customers are inherently going to look for better ways to put that dollar to work of compute to get to the most efficient outcome for their needs.
Brian Dobson
Analyst, Clear Street
Great. Thanks. I appreciate the color.
Conference Operator
Operator
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our question and answer session and will conclude our call today. We thank you for your interest and participation. You may now disconnect your lines.