Google Acquires 14% Stake in Bitcoin Miner TeraWulf, Becomes Top Shareholder

TLDR

• Google has become TeraWulf’s largest shareholder with a 14% stake worth $3.2 billion
• Fluidstack exercised option to expand at TeraWulf’s Lake Mariner data center campus
• TeraWulf plans to maintain but not expand Bitcoin mining operations
• The 10-year colocation lease agreement is projected to generate up to $16 billion in revenue
• TeraWulf’s stock price has increased by over 72% in the last five days

Google has taken a 14% stake in Bitcoin mining company TeraWulf, becoming its largest shareholder after increasing its financial backstop in a lease deal between the miner and AI infrastructure provider Fluidstack. The tech giant now holds warrants to purchase over 73 million shares in TeraWulf.

TeraWulf disclosed the development during a shareholder call on Thursday, revealing details of a 10-year colocation lease agreement with Fluidstack. Google is supporting the lease obligations through a financial guarantee known as a backstop and receiving company shares in return.

Kerri Langlais, TeraWulf’s chief strategy officer, confirmed to Cointelegraph that Google’s backstop has increased to $3.2 billion. She described Google’s equity position as a “powerful validation from one of the world’s leading technology companies.”

The backstop serves as a financial safety net for the deal. If Fluidstack cannot meet its financial obligations, Google would step in with the $3.2 billion to cover the commitments.

Langlais clarified the nature of the arrangement, stating: “This is not a guarantee of TeraWulf’s corporate debt, nor do we have access to those funds.” She emphasized that “the backstop is tied exclusively to contracted AI and high-powered computing lease revenues and is unrelated to our Bitcoin mining operations.”

Expanding Beyond Bitcoin Mining

Fluidstack recently exercised an option in the deal to expand at TeraWulf’s Lake Mariner data center campus in New York. The expansion includes a new purpose-built data center designated as CB-5, which will provide an additional 160 MW of critical IT load.

This new facility is expected to begin operations in the second half of 2026. The expansion is part of a growing trend among Bitcoin miners to diversify their income streams.

Many mining companies have been shifting their energy capacity toward AI and high-power computing hosting services since the April 2024 Bitcoin halving. The halving cut mining rewards to 3.125 Bitcoin per block, impacting overall profitability.

TeraWulf plans to maintain its current Bitcoin mining operations at Lake Mariner but does not intend to expand them. The company’s focus is now on “execution: building, hosting, and delivering for our partners and our shareholders,” according to Langlais.

In the near term, Bitcoin mining continues to generate cash flow and provides a valuable resource to the electrical grid. Langlais noted that mining’s flexible load “can be rapidly adjusted to support stability and reliability” of the power grid.

Future Revenue Potential

Over the medium to long term, TeraWulf sees “greater value in transitioning those megawatts” to AI and high-performance computing workloads. The company believes that long-term contracted revenues with partners such as Fluidstack and Google “will drive growth and value creation.”

Asset manager VanEck estimated in an August 2024 report that if publicly traded Bitcoin mining companies shifted 20% of their energy capacity to AI and high-performance computing by 2027, they could increase additional yearly profits by $13.9 billion over 13 years.

TeraWulf has projected its agreement with Fluidstack to generate $6.7 billion in revenue, with potential to reach $16 billion through lease extensions.

Paul Prager, CEO of TeraWulf, commented on the expansion, saying: “This expansion underscores the unmatched scale and capabilities of the Lake Mariner campus. By adding CB-5, we are not only increasing our contracted capacity with Fluidstack, but also further deepening our strategic alignment with Google as a critical financial partner in delivering the next generation of AI infrastructure.”

The announcement has had a positive impact on TeraWulf’s stock performance. In Monday’s trading session, TeraWulf’s stock (WULF) rallied to $10.57, representing a 17% increase over the previous close of $8.97.

However, by the end of the session, the share price had settled at $9.38 and lost a further 1.28% after hours. Still, since TeraWulf first announced its agreement with Fluidstack on Thursday, its stock price has registered more than a 72% gain over the last five days.

The latest expansion news pushed the stock up another 10% in premarket trading, nearly doubling in price since the Fluidstack/Google partnership was first announced.

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