Batch Zero scoreboard. Plus, SpaceX taps rockets team for data centers

The Batch Zero results are (mostly) in, with most of the notable names in our coverage universe announcing their positioning in the Batch Zero process.

Core Scientific, Ionic Digital, and Cipher Digital are the most recent additions to the confirmed list of Batch Zero candidates.

Core Scientific announced that ERCOT has designated a total of ~1.33 GW of power under Batch Zero, split between 1,028 MW of base load and 300 MW of studied load. Broken down by site:

Core Scientific has aspirations to scale Pecos to 1.5 GW gross, so it will shore up the rest with behind-the-meter generation, as the company said during its Q2 earnings.

Looking at Ionic Digital, the company issued a press release today saying that it received base load designation for its 466 MW final phase at Ward County, which would bring the site up to 700 MW.

The outlier here is Cipher Digital. The company announced that it received Batch Zero classifications for 3.2 GW, but it did not specify the sites or whether the designations were base load, studied load, or a mix of both.

In its tweet announcing the classifications, however, Cipher did say that it is “working with our TSPs to review site-specific conditional designations within Batch Zero and will provide further details next week.”

Reading between the lines, it’s probable that Cipher did not receive all of the base load classifications it hoped for, so it’s appealing this decision. If we want to further read into the tea leaves, Cipher’s announcement last week that it is building 2.5 GW of natural gas pipelines for on-site generation is starting to make even more sense, as though it expected this outcome.

But that’s pure speculation on my part, because Cipher’s tweet gave us little to go on.

We do know, however, that Cipher filed multiple sites into Batch Zero: Colchis (1,000 MW, likely base load), Mikeska (500 MW, likely base load), McLennan (500 MW, likely base load), Apollo (900 MW, explicitly submitted as studied load), Stingray expansion (200 MW, explicitly submitted as studied load), Stingray (100 MW of existing load, most likely base load or grandfathered in without Batch Zero), and Barber Lake expansion (500 MW, possible base load).

Cumulatively, these sites add up to 3.7 GW, meaning either one of them didn’t make the cut for studied or base load (probably one of the 500 MW sites), or one or more of Cipher's nominal project capacities differ from the actual MW submitted to or classified by ERCOT.

We’ll learn more next week once Cipher Digital follows up on next steps. In the meantime, we can take a step back and see exactly how much capacity the bitcoin-miners-turned-AI-data-center-operators have conditionally secured through Batch Zero.

The total now stands at 13.275 GW (6.875 GW of base load, 3.2 GW of studied load, and 3.2 GW from Cipher whose classifications are yet undefined, plus additional undisclosed classifications for IREN).

-CMH

Today, we open with a stock update, focusing on Cipher Digital, Core Scientific, and Ionic Digital’s announcements for their Batch Zero designations. We also cover how SpaceX is rehauling its data center construction team with engineers from its rocket line, Google and Blackstone’s Crux AI joint-venture running into delays, and a breakdown of pro-data center Super PAC spending and ad campaigns. 

Elon Musk put rocket engineers in charge of his data centers, and the first thing they did was slow everything down.

SpaceX built the fastest data centers anyone's ever built. Colossus 1 went up in 122 days. Colossus 2 took six months when the industry norm was fifteen. Now we're finding out what that speed cost.

The Information reported earlier this month that Musk cleaned house on the data center team after civil engineering and reliability problems in Tennessee and Mississippi. The Information says the replacements, pulled from the Falcon and Dragon rocket programs, are taking a completely different approach to the build-out. Read more.

Crux AI, Google and Blackstone’s $5 billion TPU-cloud joint venture known internally as Project Braid, faces delays across several potential US data-center sites, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

The setbacks include a Cheyenne, Wyoming, campus that Google took over from Crusoe and subsequently scaled down. The report did not disclose the project’s revised capacity.

Another potential location was found to have unsuitable transformers, while restrictions affecting data-center grid connections in Texas have created an additional obstacle. Bloomberg did not identify the transformer site or specify which Project Braid locations could be affected in Texas.

Despite the project-level delays, the venture says it remains on track to bring 500 MW online in 2027. Bloomberg reported that Project Braid has identified about 29 potential data-center locations, giving it alternatives as individual sites advance at different rates. Read more.

AI data center firm Cipher (NASDAQ: CIFR) said Wednesday that transmission service providers returned conditional Batch Zero classifications covering 3.2 GW of its Texas data-center projects.

The classifications advance the projects through ERCOT’s new process for large loads of at least 75 MW. They do not amount to approval to interconnect or set energization dates, and projects that fail applicable conditions can be removed from Batch Zero.

Of note, Cipher did not identify the sites covered by the 3.2 GW figure or disclose their individual classifications. The operator is reviewing the designations with its transmission service providers and expects to release more information next week. Read more.

Data center firm Core Scientific (NASDAQ: CORZ) reported on Thursday conditional ERCOT approvals covering up to 1,402 MW of electrical power across three existing and proposed Texas data-center sites. The operator furnished the update in an 8-K.

The total comprises 371 MW at Denton, 600 MW at Pecos and 431 MW at Hunt County. The filing refers to electrical power rather than critical IT load or customer-contracted capacity.

Core Scientific said Denton’s existing 297 MW received conditional approval as longstanding base load because it was energized before March 25, 2022. Another 74 MW to be energized was previously validated through ERCOT’s 2025 Regional Transmission Plan study cases, so neither portion falls within Batch Zero allocation. Read more.

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