Google secures option for 8% stake in Bitcoin miner TeraWulf via $1.8B backstop deal

American Bitcoin miner TeraWulf introduced Thursday that it has entered into two 10-year high-performance computing (HPC) colocation agreements with AI cloud platform Fluidstack, backed by Google, which may see the tech big grow to be a serious shareholder.

Below the agreements, TeraWulf will present greater than 200 megawatts (MW) of important IT load at its Lake Mariner knowledge middle campus in Western New York, a facility purpose-built for liquid-cooled AI workloads.

The whole contract worth may attain $8.7 billion if two five-year extension choices are exercised, as famous by the corporate.

Google will backstop $1.8 billion of Fluidstack’s lease obligations to assist project-related debt financing and obtain warrants to amass roughly 41 million shares of TeraWulf frequent inventory, representing an 8% professional forma fairness stake.

“This can be a defining second for TeraWulf,” mentioned TeraWulf CEO Paul Prager in a press release. “We’re proud to unite world-class capital and compute companions to ship the subsequent era of AI infrastructure, powered by low-cost, predominantly zero-carbon vitality.”

The primary part of roughly 40 MW is anticipated to return on-line within the first half of 2026, with full deployment of over 200 MW deliberate by year-end 2026. The mission’s complete price is estimated at $8-10 million per MW of important IT load.

“Fluidstack is proud to be a trusted supplier of important compute for the world’s main AI labs,” mentioned César Maklary, Co-Founder and President of Fluidstack. “Our partnership with TeraWulf displays our shared dedication to delivering speedy, scalable infrastructure for the AI frontier.”

TeraWulf (WULF) shares surged greater than 46% intraday following the brand new agreements, in line with Yahoo Finance knowledge.