Hut 8 Receives $150M Investment as Thirst for Energy Brings AI Firms to Bitcoin Miners

The funding came from Coatue Management, which is also an investor in CoreWeave, a cloud-computing firm looking to take over miner Core Scientific.

Bitcoin (BTC) miner Hut 8 (HUT) has secured a $150 million investment from Coatue Management for the construction of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, boosting the company's shares and highlighting the growing demand for bitcoin miners' energy capacity.

The funding will be provided through convertible notes with an 8% annual interest rate and a conversion rate of $16.395 per share, as stated in a press release on Monday. The notes will mature on May 15, 2028.

With the funding, Hut 8 plans to expand its AI compute capacity by leveraging its "turn-key data center infrastructure, low-cost power and high-density compute expertise." The company will also use the funds for general corporate purposes.

The investment drove a surge in the shares of other bitcoin mining-related data centers that cater to AI and high-performance computing (HPC) on Monday. Soluna Holdings (SLNH) saw a rise of nearly 17%, while Applied Digital (APLD) added about 10%.

The development comes amid a growing interest from AI and HPC firms in tapping the vast computing power of bitcoin miners. These miners typically have the necessary computing capacity and deals with power suppliers, which AI and HPC firms are eager to obtain.

In fact, according to JPMorgan, the demand for energy from large-scale data centers and AI firms could pave the way for a new era of mergers and acquisitions, with bitcoin miners with attractive power contracts becoming potential acquisition targets.

Recently, cloud computing provider CoreWeave signed a 200 megawatt (MW) deal with miner Core Scientific (CORZ) for AI-related services and even offered to buy the entire company for over $1 billion. However, Core rejected the takeover attempt, claiming that it undervalued the company.

Notably, Coatue Management is an investor in CoreWeave, which highlights the interest in utilizing bitcoin miners' current infrastructure to power AI-related services.

In the press release, Hut 8 highlighted the power crunch faced by traditional data center operators due to the surging demand for AI compute capacity. The company claims that it can "bridge the gap in the market for urgently needed, high-density AI compute capacity."

"This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the use of proceeds from the offering of the notes and the growth in demand for AI compute capacity. These forward-looking statements are based on Hut 8's current expectations and projections about future events and are subject to change.

CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which owns Grayscale, Genesis, Foundry and BlockFi, among other crypto-related businesses.

News source：https://www.kdj.com/cryptocurrencies-news/articles/hut-receives-m-investment-thirst-energy-brings-ai-firms-bitcoin-miners.html

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