Core Scientific and Ionic Digital received favorable classifications for large chunks of their Texas data centers' power capacity under ERCOT's Batch Zero process, while Cipher Digital is still waiting to see how its massive 3.2-gigawatt load will be divided.

Core Scientific said Thursday in an 8-K filing that 300 MW of existing power at its Pecos, Texas, site was conditionally approved as Base Load, essentially protecting the existing power capacity from potential cuts to new power requests, while another 300 MW was classified as Studied Load. Studied Load simply means the site is still under review and could ultimately receive less power than requested.

The company's planned 431 MW Hunt site also received a conditional Base Load classification, given to select projects that have "demonstrated maturity and advancement through the interconnection process."

Another 371 MW at Core's Denton site was effectively grandfathered in because it had been energized before March 2022, while a separate 74 MW was already approved and incorporated into ERCOT's 2025 transmission planning studies.

Core Scientific shares (CORZ) initially fell over 4% in the first hour of Thursday trading to around $17.30 but have since rebounded and are nearly even for the day.

Ionic Digital

Ionic Digital separately said Texas-New Mexico Power informed the company that the remaining 466 MW requested for its Ward County campus had been provisionally classified as Base Load.

Energizing the remaining tranche would bring the campus to its full 700 MW of demand, a milestone the company hopes to reach by the end of 2027.

Ionic shares (IOND) rose 4.5% and are now up more than 26% since the bitcoin miner-turned-AI infrastructure firm debuted on Nasdaq in late July.

Cipher Digital

Cipher Digital's update was much less definitive and involves exponentially larger amounts of power.

The company said it received "initial feedback" from its transmission service providers, resulting in 3.2 GW of conditional Batch Zero classifications, but stopped short of disclosing how much falls under Base Load versus Studied Load. Cipher said it is reviewing its site-specific designations and expects to provide an update next week.

VanEck Head of Digital Assets Research Matthew Sigel said investors had been looking for roughly 2 GW of Base Load across Cipher's Colchis, Mikeska and McLennan sites, with another 1.1 GW at Apollo and the Stingray expansion submitted as Studied Load. Cipher has yet to confirm the breakdown.

Cipher announced last week that it had begun developing gas laterals capable of supporting up to 2.5 GW of on-site power.

Cipher shares (CIFR) fell nearly 5% to $16.10 and are virtually flat year-to-date.