Investor Who Blocked $9B AI Deal Expects Payoff

Trip Miller, founder of Gullane Capital Partners, believes his opposition to the CoreWeave acquisition of Core Scientific will soon yield significant returns. Miller expects the data center developer to announce major new customer leases shortly, which he argues will prove the company's value far exceeded the blocked buyout offer.

Miller projects that Core Scientific will secure commitments for roughly 400 megawatts of capacity this year, starting with over 100 megawatts in the next 90 days. These anticipated deals are viewed as strong evidence of a sustainable AI boom rather than a speculative bubble. The situation highlights a massive shift in the industry, where former crypto miners are rapidly converting their power infrastructure to meet the insatiable energy demands of artificial intelligence.

In October, Trip Miller helped scuttle one of the largest data center acquisitions of 2025. As a major shareholder in Core Scientific, Miller opposed the offer by AI cloud firm CoreWeave to acquire the company in a stock conversion deal. Miller felt the transaction undervalued Core Scientific, noting that the purchase price had dropped from an initial valuation of around $9 billion to nearly half that amount due to a decline in CoreWeave's share price.

Shareholders ultimately rejected the deal on October 30, citing concerns over the weakened economics. Since the deal's collapse, Core Scientific's stock has traded as low as $14 per share, below the $17 per share equivalent of the CoreWeave offer. However, Miller remains confident in the company's potential. "I think over the next 90 days, you'll see them announce greater than a hundred megawatts of deals," Miller stated. He believes these leases will demonstrate "that there was a lot more value to be tapped there than we were getting paid for under the CoreWeave deal."

The anticipated leases for Core Scientific are set against a backdrop of a massive energy shortage. Morgan Stanley research projects that data centers will face a 47 gigawatt shortfall of electricity from the grid nationally by 2028. This gap is nearly 10 times the size of New York City's average daily energy footprint. Stephen Byrd, Morgan Stanley's global head of thematic research, warned of a systematic shortage of computing power. "We are in a situation where we're likely to be systematically short compute —where the demand for compute will outstrip the supply," Byrd said.

This energy constraint has made existing power infrastructure incredibly valuable. Crypto mining firms, which often hold significant power contracts and facilities, are becoming the chief beneficiaries of the AI boom. Morgan Stanley anticipates that approximately 12 gigawatts of mining facilities—about 60% of the industry's current capacity—will convert to AI and high-performance computing within the next three years. This pivot is already occurring across the sector:

• Cipher Mining announced a 168-megawatt data center in Texas leased to AI cloud company Fluidstack.
• Iren secured a $9.7 billion AI cloud computing deal with Microsoft.
• Hut 8 signed a deal to lease a 245-megawatt data center in Louisiana to Fluidstack.

Core Scientific is actively participating in this industry pivot. The company, formerly a crypto mining giant, has repurposed its business to focus on AI. According to an October investor presentation, Core Scientific has disclosed approximately 1 gigawatt of existing data center capacity and an additional 1.5 gigawatts of power available for expansion. The company plans to repurpose 400 megawatts of its crypto mining operations for high-performance computing over the next three years.

Currently, CoreWeave is Core Scientific's only data center customer outside of legacy crypto mining operations, leasing 590 megawatts worth roughly $10 billion in revenue over 12 years. However, Miller emphasized that the upcoming leases he anticipates will be with new clients. "I expect them to announce deals for AI with third parties other than CoreWeave," Miller said. Analysts agree on the company's potential; Paul Golding of Macquarie set a $34 target for Core Scientific's stock in October, more than double its price at the time, based on the value of its uncontracted power and expansion pipeline.

The next few months will be critical for Core Scientific and investors like Trip Miller. If the company successfully leases the projected 400 megawatts of capacity, it will validate the strategy of repurposing crypto mining infrastructure for AI. Such a move would not only boost Core Scientific's valuation but also reinforce the narrative that the massive investments in data centers are fueling a durable economic boom rather than a temporary bubble. As the power crunch intensifies, companies with secured energy resources are positioned to dominate the rapidly expanding AI landscape.