Bitcoin miner Hut 8 lands $7B Google-backed AI data center lease
Hut 8 secured a $7 billion, 15-year lease with Google's financial backing for an AI data center in Louisiana.Summary
Bitcoin mining company Hut 8 has signed a significant 15-year, $7 billion lease agreement to provide 245 megawatts of artificial intelligence data center capacity at its River Bend campus in Louisiana. Infrastructure provider Fluidstack will lease this capacity, with Google providing a crucial financial backstop to cover lease payments if Fluidstack defaults. This deal validates Hut 8's development model, according to CEO Asher Genoot. Construction is underway, with the first data hall expected to be operational in Q2 2027. The project will be financed through data center-tied loans, minimizing Hut 8's upfront capital needs, a structure praised by JP Morgan. This agreement deepens Hut 8's commitment to the AI sector, following its launch of GPU-as-a-Service via Highrise AI earlier in 2024. This trend sees other crypto-native firms, like Core Scientific and Galaxy Digital, also securing major deals in the burgeoning AI infrastructure space.
(Source：Cointelegraph)