Applied Digital announced on March 15 that it had concluded the sale of its 200-megawatt (MW) Bitcoin mining facility to Marathon Digital Holdings for $87.3 million.
In the announcement, the Nasdaq-listed mining company mentioned that the mining plant is in Garden City, Texas. The second quarter of 2024 is the expected date of completion of the deal.
Applied Digital Announces $87.3 Million Deal
Some stated modifications to the acquisition agreement could see Marathon Digital Holdings pay a gross purchase price of $97.3 million.
Applied Digital CEO Wes Cummins stated that this acquisition would bolster and equip the company with more financial resources.
He also mentioned that this transaction would strengthen the foundation for long-term expansion and operational superiority. It will ultimately help Applied Digital concentrate on constructing HPC data centers, representing it as a purposeful pivot.
Bloomberg reported that Marathon intends to purchase more mining sites in preparation for Bitcoin’s halving event.
The facility was built in 2023. Before this acquisition, Marathon served as a hosting client and had earlier used the site for a hosting agreement. Marathon will remain a hosting client at Applied Digital’s North Dakota data center even after acquiring the Texas facility.
Applied Digital reiterated its commitment to improve and grow its HPC (high-performance computing) potential.
The company also announced a collaboration with Together AI earlier this week. The partnership will see Together AI use Applied Digital’s Nvidia H100 graphics processing units (GPUs) for its operations.
Many companies in the Bitcoin mining industry are now diversifying into the generative AI industry. Joining them is the Nasdaq-listed mining company, which is now set to also experiment with generative AI technologies.
Marathon Digital’s BitCoin Mining Exploits
In preparation for the upcoming Bitcoin halving, Florida-based Marathon Digital has been steadily expanding its mining operations.
In late February, Marathon reported a self-mining hash rate of 28.7 exahashes per second (EH/s). With Bitcoin’s next halving scheduled for April 20, the block reward is expected to decrease from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.
To strengthen its position for this, Marathon strategically bolstered its financial resources. As of January 31, Marathon possessed over $1 billion in unrestricted cash and bitcoin combined. Financial projections indicate this will propel the company’s hash rate to a projected 50 EH/s by the end of 2025.
Additionally, Marathon made major moves to expand its mining capacity. In January, the company acquired two mining sites in Nebraska and Texas for approximately $179 million (390 MW).
This latest acquisition of Applied Digital’s Texas Bitcoin mining facility further solidifies Marathon’s role as a major player in the digital asset mining industry.