Core Scientific, one of the largest public bitcoin mining firms by realized hashrate, has begun a power capacity expansion to add another 72 megawatts (MW) in Texas ahead of bitcoin’s halving event.
The company announced on Tuesday that it expects to complete the scale-up for its Denton, Texas site by June this year at an estimated cost of $200,000 per MW.
Core Scientific currently operates 745 MW of power capacity for proprietary mining and colocation in North Dakota, Kentucky, North Carolina, Georgia, and Texas. It has 196 MW of operational capacity in Denton and Pecos, Texas.
Although it secured the contract to develop another 372 MW in the Lone Star State, the expansion plan had previously been hindered by the Chapter 11 proceedings it entered in late 2022.
Core Scientific’s production market share had declined notably throughout 2023 as its main competitors continued racking up more equipment. It emerged from bankruptcy protection earlier this year only to face the upcoming halving, which will slash bitcoin’s hashprice by half immediately after the event.
The total capital expenditure would reach $75 million if the full 372 MW expansion is implemented. That could power up an additional 20 EH/s of hashrate. However, it is yet to be revealed how the company intends to scale up its mining equipment.
Core Scientific mined the most bitcoin in March among its publicly listed peers with 906 BTC and a realized hashrate of 18.2 EH/s.