What’s Driving TeraWulf (WULF) Stock, and Are Its Peers Moving Too?

TeraWulf (NASDAQ:WULF) stock is leading a group of Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) miner-turned-AI-infrastructure companies in 2026, with shares up 40.82% year to date. Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) stock is up 18.52%, IREN Limited (NASDAQ:IREN) stock is up 2.57%, and Core Scientific (NASDAQ:CORZ) stock is up 33.52%, putting TeraWulf ahead of all three peers.

The broader backdrop has also been favorable, with the Global X Data Center & Digital Infrastructure ETF (NASDAQ:DTCR) up 31.78% year to date. That suggests TeraWulf stock isn’t simply benefiting from a rising digital-infrastructure tide, since its gain has exceeded the ETF’s performance.

TeraWulf’s Anthropic Deal Is a Major Catalyst

The biggest recent driver for TeraWulf has been its 20-year lease with Anthropic at the Justified Data campus in Kentucky. The agreement covers approximately 401 megawatts of critical IT load and is expected to generate roughly $19 billion of contracted lease revenue over its initial term, with initial capacity expected online in the second half of 2027 and the full campus ramping by early 2028.

TeraWulf also agreed to sell its 50.1% interest in the Abernathy Joint Venture to a Fluidstack-led investor group, monetizing an approximately $450 million investment at a premium. That transaction could give TeraWulf more capital to deploy into wholly owned AI infrastructure, while the Anthropic lease provides investors with another long-duration contracted revenue stream.

Wall Street Sees More Upside for WULF

Needham raised its TeraWulf stock price target to $33 from $28 in July while maintaining a Buy rating, citing the attractiveness of the Anthropic lease and the continued strength of AI infrastructure demand. Needham’s updated estimates also incorporated the removal of the Abernathy joint venture and the addition of the Justified Data lease.

The bullish case rests on TeraWulf converting its power and land portfolio into long-term AI infrastructure contracts, while its earlier Fluidstack arrangements provide another piece of contracted HPC (high-performance computing) capacity. TeraWulf’s Q1 results already showed the transition taking shape, with $21 million of HPC lease revenue accounting for more than half of its $34 million of total revenue.

Peers Have Catalysts, Too

Applied Digital has continued building out its AI data center portfolio, including additional capacity at its North Dakota campus, while IREN has been expanding its AI Cloud business. IREN recently announced $2.8 billion of new customer contracts and raised its year-end AI Cloud annualized run-rate revenue target to more than $4 billion, with roughly 85% of that target under contract.

Core Scientific has arguably produced one of the more important recent peer catalysts after announcing an agreement with Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD | AMD Price Prediction) for up to 2.5 gigawatts of data center capacity. Core Scientific’s Q2 results also showed colocation revenue of $136.7 million, while billing capacity reached 437 megawatts by mid-July, highlighting how quickly the business is shifting toward contracted AI infrastructure.

What to Watch Now

TeraWulf stock’s lead in 2026 so far suggests that investors are placing a premium on its combination of contracted demand, power availability and long-term customer relationships. The bear case is that TeraWulf still has to execute expensive, complex construction projects, and much of the largest revenue opportunity from Anthropic won’t begin until future capacity is delivered.

The comparison with APLD stock, IREN stock and CORZ stock also shows that investors have several ways to play the same AI infrastructure theme. TeraWulf stock could remain a strong performer if management executes on its contracted buildout, but the stock’s substantial gain already reflects considerable optimism.

Investors considering TeraWulf stock should keep their position sizes moderate given the company’s capital requirements, execution risks and history of volatility. The DTCR ETF could offer a more diversified way to participate in the data-center buildout, while investors who choose individual names may want to watch for whether TeraWulf continues converting its development pipeline into contracted, revenue-producing capacity.

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