Core42's 42MW Lake Mariner Expansion Turns US Power Capacity Into a Gulf AI Cloud Signal
Core42 expanded its AI cluster at TeraWulf's Lake Mariner site in Buffalo, raising compute capacity there by 42MW to 60MW. The UAE-headquartered G42 company's AI cloud platform has ten global sites operational, with additional deployments planned for 2026. The practical question is whether Core42 exercises further Lake Mariner capacity and turns the expanded US footprint into durable hyperscale and enterprise workloads.
Core42 Adds US AI Capacity at Lake Mariner
Core42 has expanded its AI cluster at TeraWulf's Lake Mariner site in Buffalo, New York, increasing compute capacity there by 42MW to 60MW.
The move extends the US footprint of the UAE-headquartered G42 company's AI cloud platform as demand for high-power AI workloads continues to shape data-center capacity decisions.
The Lake Mariner site gives Core42 a larger US base for hyperscale, AI-native and large enterprise workloads.
Talal M. Al Kaissi, CEO of Core42, said the company is scaling US infrastructure in line with long-term deployment programs and that the added Lake Mariner capacity extends its global AI infrastructure build-out.
Capacity Options Define the Next Phase
TeraWulf operates the Lake Mariner data center, where an earlier capacity agreement with Core42 was said to cover more than 70MW.
The site is targeting 750MW at full build-out.
Core42 also holds a time-limited option for 135MW of capacity that is scheduled for delivery in early 2026.
Core42 has deployed a combination of AMD Instinct MI300 GPUs and Nvidia infrastructure at the site.
The company also has US deployments in Dallas, Sunnyvale, Stockton and Minneapolis, including Condor Galaxy supercomputers developed in collaboration with Cerebras.
Its AI cloud platform has ten global sites operational, with additional deployments planned for 2026.
AI Cloud Demand Reshapes Former Mining Sites
Lake Mariner was previously used by TeraWulf for Bitcoin mining, but the campus has shifted toward AI and high-performance computing customers.
Six buildings are planned at the site, with Wulf Den at 2MW, CB1 at 16MW and the first phase of CB2 at 42MW live.
The second phase of CB2, CB3 at 42MW, CB4 and CB5 at 168MW are expected to be energized this year.
Fluidstack is another AI cloud customer tied to Lake Mariner through Google-backed agreements with TeraWulf.
Fluidstack plans to lease 360MW of critical IT load from the campus through two 10-year deals, while Google took a 14 percent stake in TeraWulf across those agreements.
The market signal is that AI cloud expansion is turning power-backed data-center campuses into strategic infrastructure for both Gulf-backed platforms and US site operators.
The practical question is whether Core42 exercises further Lake Mariner capacity and converts its expanded US footprint into durable enterprise and hyperscale workloads.
