Bitcoin miner signs AI hosting deal valued up to $460M.
Applied Digital (APLD) has signed a deal to host artificial intelligence (AI) cloud computing loads in its data centers. The firm announced that this agreement could be worth as much as $460 million over 36 months in a press release on Friday. After the announcement, the Texas-based crypto miner’s shares surged as much as 17% on Nasdaq, marking its second AI hosting agreement in two months. Like other crypto miners, Applied Digital is seeking alternative revenue streams to bolster its income amid lukewarm crypto markets. It is exploring possibilities in AI, cloud computing, and other high-performance computing applications that are predicted to continue growing.
The agreement follows a previous one in May, which Applied Digital claimed was worth up to $180 million over the next two years. For its AI and cloud offerings, the company has teamed up with hardware manufacturer Supermicro.
Miners have access to affordable electricity and data center infrastructure, which can be deployed to power other types of data centers. However, once they take that path, they must develop customer-facing capabilities, compete with infrastructure giants such as Amazon Web Services, and often improve the quality of their data centers. This week, Iris Energy (IREN) announced that it is reviving its strategy to pursue high-performance computing clients.
Read more: Crypto and Bitcoin Miners Rebrand and Diversify to Survive: A Look at Their New Strategies
- Crypto community split on BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF application.
- Lightning takes the wheel of a European rally car adventure, honk if you love Bitcoin!
- Valkyrie Funds applies for Bitcoin ETF.
Edited by Sheldon Reback.