- Bitfarm shifts from mining legacy coins to hosting a large Nvidia-powered AI infrastructure
- Massive power reserves give the company unusual leverage in entering AI workloads
- AI pivot follows steep financial losses driven by volatile digital asset markets
Bitfarm, a major Bitcoin mining company with twelve facilities dedicated to cryptocurrency operations, has announced plans to abandon crypto mining entirely by 2027 and shift to AI data center services.
It currently has an energized capacity of 341 megawatts, which it claims can support large-scale deployment of server racks such as Nvidia’s GB300 NVL72 units.
The company states having existing power infrastructure allows it to begin scaling without entering lengthy negotiations with local authorities and power suppliers.
Bitfarm’s existing energy capacity gives it an edge
This existing infrastructure gives it an advantage over hyperscalers that reportedly face constraints in acquiring additional power capacity.
There are claims that other companies, including large technology firms, have high-end crypto mining GPUs in inventory but lack adequate data center shells to deploy them.
Bitfarm believes its current assets reduce entry barriers as it converts facilities to handle AI workloads rather than cryptocurrency mining tasks.
The company has converted a $300 million Macquarie debt facility into financing that will support the Panther Creek, Pennsylvania data center, which could reach at least 350 megawatts.
This project forms part of a broader pipeline estimated at 1.3 gigawatts, which the company says could elevate it into a significant position within the AI data center industry.
It also plans to convert its Washington facility to support Nvidia hardware under a GPU-as-a-service model using liquid cooling.
“We continue executing on our HPC/AI infrastructure development strategy with a fully funded supply chain and plan to convert our Washington site to support Nvidia GB300s with state-of-the-art liquid cooling,” said Bitfarm CEO Ben Gagnon in a statement to Decrypt.
“Despite being less than 1% of our total developable portfolio, we believe that the conversion of just our Washington site to GPU-as-a-service could potentially produce more net operating income than we have ever generated with Bitcoin mining.”
The company claims the income potential from this single site may exceed the revenue generated over its history of Bitcoin mining operations.
The move follows a reported $46 million third-quarter loss, driven in part by Bitcoin volatility and lower-than-expected performance of its latest mining rigs, which led to reduced hashrate projections.
Although Bitcoin reached record highs recently, fluctuating profitability created operational instability.
The company’s shift also occurs amid allegations involving hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of GPUs used in crypto mining under tax evasion investigations, highlighting continued controversy within the industry.
If the AI industry experiences a downturn, companies committing billions to specialized infrastructure could face significant losses.
Via Tom’s Hardware
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