Bitfarms Upgrades Pending T21 Bitcoin Miners to S21 Pro for $33.2M

Bitfarms (NASDAQ: BITF) has upgraded 18,853 Antminer T21 Bitcoin miners, pending shipment from Bitmain, to the S21 Pro model at an additional cost of $33.2 million.

In its third-quarter earnings filing, the company reported amending an existing purchase agreement with Bitmain to upgrade the remaining T21 miners from its March order. The upgraded units are expected to be delivered in December 2024 and January 2025.

The S21 Pro model from Bitmain has a hashrate capacity of 234 TH/s and an efficiency of 15 J/TH, compared to the T21 model’s standard hashrate of 190 TH/s and 19 J/TH efficiency. Bitfarms’ cost for the upgrade implies a price of $19/TH/s for the S21 Pro.

Bitfarms first announced a bulk preorder of T21 Antminers in November 2023, followed by a purchase of 47,280 T21s in March at $14/TH/s. However, Bitfarms noted in a July production update that some of the T21 units delivered had performance issues. Bitfarms CEO Ben Gagnon commented at the time:

“Hashrate remains below the 12 EH/s target primarily due to the underperformance of a batch of ~3,000 T21s, representing ~700 PH/s, that experience overheating issues even at lower temperatures. Bitmain is rapidly replacing these machines at their expense. The new miners are expected to arrive and be installed on site in three weeks. We have worked closely with Bitmain to resolve these manufacturing issues and prevent a recurrence in future batches, including August deliveries. We remain pleased with the overall performance of our T21 miners, with the vast majority performing and hashing as expected.”

In the Q3 earnings release, Bitfarms CFO Jeff Lucas added: “While we achieved our year-end efficiency target of 21 W/TH in the third quarter, shipping delays and ongoing servicing of our Bitmain T21s impacted our ability to reach 21 EH/s in 2024. We are working closely with Bitmain on warranty servicing and miner upgrades and expect to reach 21 EH/s in the first half of 2025.”

Bitfarms’ fleet hashcost has dropped from $40.6/PH/s in Q1 to $35.5/PH/s in Q2 and $29.3/PH/s in the most recent quarter, thanks to fleet upgrades using the latest generation of mining equipment, according to an analysis by TheEnergyMag.