June 27 (Reuters) - CoreWeave ( CRWV ) is in talks to

buy Core Scientific ( CORZ ), after the bitcoin miner rejected

an earlier deal from the cloud provider last year, a source

familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Shares of Core Scientific ( CORZ ) closed 33% higher on Thursday

after the Wall Street Journal first reported the news.

Core Scientific ( CORZ ) has a market value of about $5 billion, as

of Friday's closing price.

Crypto miners use vast amounts of electricity to run their

operations and are being increasingly targeted by bigger peers

and AI technology companies, as they try to consolidate power

supply for their energy-hungry enterprises.

A deal could be finalized in the coming weeks, according to

the source. The exact terms being discussed could not be

learned.

Core Scientific ( CORZ ) did not respond to a Reuters request for

comment. CoreWeave ( CRWV ) declined to comment.

Core Scientific ( CORZ ) received an unsolicited non-binding proposal

from CoreWeave ( CRWV ) in June last year to acquire all of the company's

outstanding shares on a fully diluted basis for $1.02 billion,

or $5.75 per share in cash.

At the time, Core Scientific ( CORZ ) had said that the deal

significantly undervalued it and was not in the best interests

of the company and its shareholders.

The two companies signed a series of 12-year contracts then,

including an agreement under which Core Scientific ( CORZ ) would provide

CoreWeave ( CRWV ) with about 200 MW of infrastructure to power its

high-performance computing services.