From cleaning products to data centers: Zone Frontier faces a $479 million test in Minnesota

Zone Frontier Inc., formerly CleanCore Solutions, reported $3.4 million in revenue for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2026. It now plans to help finance a Minnesota data center with an approved budget of $479 million and a 10-year customer agreement valued at about $800 million.

The customer agreement is a potential source of revenue as capacity becomes available. The construction budget requires capital well before the project is fully operating. The company expects about 55 megawatts of utility power and 40 megawatts of IT load to be fully online by the end of the second quarter of 2027, with revenue increasing through the first half of that year.

The company said it plans to wipe the slate clean with “a new focus on building AI Critical Infrastructure and plans to dispose of the Cleaning Products business and digital asset treasury strategy.”

The company’s latest annual report, filed Sept. 28, 2026, covers a year in which it operated three segments: cleaning products, a Dogecoin treasury and AI infrastructure.

It reported a $174.2 million net loss, including a $116.3 million loss on the change in fair value of its digital assets, and an operating loss of $58.0 million. It used $18.2 million in operating cash and ended the year with $15.4 million in cash. A year earlier it reported $2.1 million in revenue and a $6.7 million net loss. Management said available resources may not be sufficient to fund planned spending over the next 12 months, and the report states substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.

The data center strategy took shape in the final weeks of fiscal 2026. In June 2026, Zone Frontier announced a transition to what it calls AI critical infrastructure. By July, it had entered two development partnerships: one with HST Technologies for a broader data center platform and another for the Minnesota facility. In its Sept. 28 annual report, the company said it was marketing the cleaning-products business for sale but had no binding contract.

The Minnesota project has the clearest identified customer. Under the filed agreement, a project company will provide Cerebras Systems with colocation service for 40 megawatts of critical IT load at a campus planned for approximately 55 megawatts of utility power capacity. Zone Frontier said about 20 megawatts of utility power was already energized, supporting an initial 15 megawatts of IT load. It described the planned 40 megawatts as fully preleased to Cerebras.

Zone Frontier owns 79 percent of the Minnesota joint venture; its development partner owns 21 percent. The agreement calls for Zone Frontier to supply up to $500 million in capital on an agreed schedule running from July 2026 through February 2027. Its initial $40 million contribution was due in two installments.

The partner contributes project rights, development services and a software license, and is also eligible for development payments and bonuses. Those terms give Zone Frontier the larger ownership stake and the larger funding obligation.

The approximately $800 million figure covers the initial 10-year Cerebras term. Two additional 10-year options could bring the total above $3 billion if Cerebras exercises them. Neither amount is revenue Zone Frontier has already earned, and the optional decades should not be counted as a firm 30-year contract.

The HST arrangement points to a wider ambition, though its capacity beyond an initial phase is less defined. Under that July agreement, Zone Frontier may contribute up to $100 million over nine months for a 99 percent capital interest in a joint venture. The agreement contemplates capital commitments of up to $2 billion and possible equity payments to HST tied to delivery milestones across 500 megawatts.

The agreement’s terms set out a financing and compensation framework; they do not establish that 500 megawatts is built, powered or leased. In its annual report, the company identified the HST project as a West Texas campus and said it plans an initial phase of 200 megawatts of critical IT load by early 2029, with first revenue expected in the first half of 2028.

Zone Frontier has turned to public investors for part of the money. In August, it priced an offering of shares and warrants for approximately $100 million in gross proceeds, before fees and expenses. The company said the proceeds would fund its equity commitment to the Minnesota project. That is a meaningful increase in available funding, but it is smaller than the Minnesota project’s approved budget. The deal included 400 million warrants exercisable at 25 cents a share, plus 124.2 million pre-funded warrants. Shares outstanding rose from 226.1 million on June 30 to 502.1 million on Aug. 20.

The company’s path to data centers has included another detour. After its fiscal 2025 annual report, the company pursued a Dogecoin treasury strategy. It sold substantially all of its Dogecoin on July 20, 2026, and said the proceeds would fund its AI strategy. That leaves management handling an existing product business and large construction commitments during the transition.

The Minnesota lease makes this more than a general AI development pitch. A named customer, a filed 10-year agreement and some energized power give the project concrete elements. Zone Frontier’s next task is to fund and deliver the remaining capacity on the proposed schedule. Its latest annual report shows how far the company’s finances must travel from the business that produced its last full year of reported revenue.