Sphere 3D to buy 60,000 Bitcoin miners for up to $1.7 billion

Sphere 3D, a provider of data-management solutions, has signed a deal to buy 60,000 NuMiner NM440 Bitcoin miners with a total capacity of 26.4 EH/s. The deal value is up to $1.7 billion.

According to пресс-релизу, the market-ready device from NuMiner Technologies has a hashrate of 440 TH/s with an energy efficiency of 20.2 J/T. The company’s site says the device is produced in collaboration with TSMC, Foxconn and Xilinx.

Under the agreement with NuMiner Global, the manufacturer’s exclusive distributor, Sphere 3D will receive 12 pre-production NM440 units for testing and final evaluation, to be completed by June 2022. Deliveries are then planned to total 1,000 units by the end of June and around 10,000 units a month from September 2022 through February 2023.

The purchase terms for 60,000 NM440 units set a maximum value of $1.7 billion, which includes:

• Advance payments totaling $429 million, including about $400 million in stock and $29 million in cash;
• $1.1 billion in purchase financing from NuMiner Global on an option;
• Additional payments of about $185 million depending on the number of devices in the batch, whose energy efficiency exceeds the current 20.2 J/T.

As part of the deal, Anthony Melman, chairman of the board of NuMiner Global, will join Sphere 3D’s board.

Earlier, the company ordered 60,000 Antminer S19j Pro Bitcoin miners from Bitmain. It is expected that, after deliveries under both contracts are completed and 120,000 units are deployed, Sphere 3D’s hash rate will reach 32.4 EH/s, roughly 14% of the current network for the leading cryptocurrency.

The merger partner mining firm Gryphon Digital Mining operates a fleet of 3,000 units and expects a further 500; in addition, 500 devices were installed on behalf of Sphere 3D.

Earlier, one of the largest North American miners, Marathon Digital Holdings, announced that by early 2023 its hash rate would reach 23.3 EH/s with a fleet of about 199,000 machines.