Northern Data Mulls Selling Bitcoin Mining Unit to Focus on AI

Germany-headquartered Northern Data is considering divesting its Bitcoin mining subsidiary to transition toward a pure-play AI strategy.

On Monday, Northern Data announced it had initiated “negotiations with interested parties regarding a possible divestment of its crypto mining business, Peak Mining.”

In a subsequent announcement, the company indicated that potential proceeds from the sale would be invested in acquiring further data centers, purchasing GPUs, and developing its AI product platform.

The move comes months after Tether backed Northern Data’s $233 million stock issuance to raise funds for further investment in Nvidia GPUs and the expansion of Northern Data’s high-performance computing in Europe and the U.S.

Northern Data reported revenues of €26 million and €59 million for the second and third quarters, respectively, generated from its data center, cloud, and Bitcoin mining operations, though it did not provide a breakdown by segment.

The firm mined 447 BTC in the first quarter of 2024, with an average energy and operational cost of $28,500 per BTC, prior to the halving event, suggesting a realized hashrate of 2.82 EH/s at that time.

Since last year, Northern Data has purchased two 300-megawatt sites in Texas to expand its Bitcoin mining capacities. The company recently affirmed that it remains on track to reach a hashrate of 7.9 EH/s by the end of 2024, although it ceased providing monthly production updates earlier this year.