Hut 8 Mining Corp, one of the world's largest public bitcoin mining companies by operating capacity and market capitalization, has acquired nine Blockbox AC data centers from the Bitfury Group at its facility in Drumheller, Alberta. The company sealed the deal for US$7 million. With this purchase, Hut 8 will own 100% of the Drumheller facility.
According to Hut8, the latest addition of data centers will add approximately 113 petahash per second (PH/s) and 9.9 MW of capacity to Hut 8's existing operations. There will be an increase of 13.3% to Hut 8's PH/s output. The company also informed that before closing the purchase, the additional 9 data centers would be upgraded to include 12.6 PH/s Bitfury Clarke ASIC chips. Hut 8 expects the upgrades to be completed within ten weeks.
Earlier this month, Hut 8 added additional capacity to its City of Medicine Hat facility. The company announced an increase of 4.3 megawatts on electricity to the Medicine Hat plant, bringing the total amount of power used to 67 megawatts. Hut 8 will utilize the additional electricity within its existing BlockBox ACTM data centers in the City of Medicine Hat to increase production.
"We are pleased to inform shareholders that between the increase in capacity announced last week in The City of Medicine Hat and the acquisition of 9 additional BlockBox AC data centers, that Hut 8 has grown its PH/s output by 19.6% in a short timeline without the need to raise external capital," said Andrew Kiguel, Chief Executive Officer of Hut 8 in a statement. "These initiatives will increase our efficiency and decrease our mining cost per bitcoin."
The BlockBox ACTM data centers were previously owned by Bitfury Group, the largest full-service blockchain technology company in the world. Hut 8 has an exclusive North American partnership with the Bitfury Group Limited. Hut 8 owns and operates two sites in Alberta, Canada utilizing 93 BlockBox ACTM data centers with funded near term capacity of 109.4 MW and 963 PH/s. Hut 8 intends to finance the acquisition via cash on hand and the sale of a portion of its bitcoin inventory, subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.
