Marathon Digital to Acquire 200 MW Bitcoin Farm for $87 Million

Mining firm Marathon Digital Holdings has finalized an agreement to purchase a 200 MW data center in Garden City, Texas, from Applied Digital Corporation.

The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2024. Read the full press release: https://t.co/oDG4wgHy32

— Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ: MARA) (@MarathonDH) March 15, 2024

The deal is valued at $87.3 million, which Marathon will fully pay in cash from its balance sheet.

According to the statement, the acquisition will boost the company’s mining capacity to 1.1 GW, with more than half (54%) of this capacity coming from Marathon’s own facilities.

The company is a hosting client at the Applied Digital site, utilizing about 100 MW. The deployed equipment generates a hash rate of approximately 4.5 EH/s.

Fred Thiel, Chairman and CEO of Marathon, stated that gaining control over the data center will reduce the cost of bitcoin mining there by about 20%.

The Applied Digital facility was commissioned and connected to the power grid in 2023. It is powered by a nearby wind farm and employs around 25 staff.

Marathon aims to increase the facility’s capacity by 100 MW by the end of 2024. Regulatory approval for 32 MW of this expansion is expected before the deal closes in the second quarter.

“As close partners of Applied Digital, we are well-acquainted with the facility. Therefore, we anticipate a smooth transition as we work to integrate this data center into our diversified bitcoin mining asset portfolio,” Thiel stated.

Back in November, Florida-based Marathon began bitcoin mining operations in Paraguay. The company has also considered expansion into Africa.

Meanwhile, the U.S. presidential administration has revisited the idea of a 30% tax on electricity for miners.