Hive Digital Applied sciences (HIVE) is constant its transformation from a pure-play crypto miner to a high-performance computing (HPC) providers supplier.
What started with a fleet of 400 GPUs managed by two workers is now scaling towards a $100 million annual income. The corporate is leveraging superior AI chips, together with Nvidia’s H100s and the forthcoming Blackwell GPUs, to drive this progress.
Co-founder and Govt Chairman Frank Holmes and CEO Aydin Kilic elaborated on Hive’s technique in an unique interview with Cointelegraph on the Nasdaq Inventory Alternate headquarters in New York Metropolis, the place the corporate rang the closing bell on Thursday.
The executives detailed Hive’s ongoing diversification into AI. Like different miners, Hive recognized AI as a doubtlessly extra worthwhile use of power than Bitcoin (BTC) when measured in kilowatt-hours. This perception has led a number of crypto mining firms to include AI processing into their infrastructure, particularly to counter declining profitability following the 2024 halving.
In keeping with Holmes, Hive was the primary publicly traded miner to pivot into HPC in 2022. By the second quarter of 2023, HPC income appeared on the corporate’s revenue assertion for the primary time, and it has since grown to a $20 million annual run charge, with a objective of reaching $100 million by 2026.
Nonetheless, scaling HPC capability have to be approached fastidiously, given the continuing “scramble for electrical energy and land,” stated Kilic.
In response, Hive just lately acquired a web site close to Pearson Worldwide Airport in Toronto, Canada, securing a strategic location able to scaling as much as 7.2 megawatts of HPC energy.
The selection of Toronto was intentional because it locations Hive on the coronary heart of a strong pipeline of AI expertise, together with connections to the College of Toronto and Canada’s AI ecosystem.
Regardless of the capital shift, Hive has maintained optimistic gross mining margins each quarter, even throughout Bitcoin’s steep downturn in 2022. Kilic credit this to Hive’s tight operational construction and continued funding in {hardware}, attaining world power effectivity as little as 17.5 joules per terahash (J/TH).
Journal: AI might already use extra energy than Bitcoin — and it threatens Bitcoin mining
Hive inventory continues to be performing as a Bitcoin proxy
Regardless of Hive’s pivot into higher-margin markets like high-performance computing, its inventory continues to behave like a Bitcoin proxy, limiting its valuation upside, based on Kilic and Holmes.
Following the corporate’s closing bell ceremony at Nasdaq, Hive shares posted a modest achieve and have rebounded 31% over the previous month. Nevertheless, year-to-date, the inventory stays down 27%, buying and selling round $2.23 with a market capitalization of roughly $475 million.
Even with this volatility, analysts have largely issued optimistic protection on Hive, signaling that the inventory is undervalued at present ranges. In February, H.C. Wainwright issued a “Purchase” score with a $10 worth goal. Not too long ago, Canaccord Genuity reiterated its “Purchase” score, assigning a $9 goal.
Rosenblatt Securities analyst Chris Brendler additionally sees upside, citing Hive’s increasing HPC footprint and rising operations in Paraguay.
As Cointelegraph reported, Hive acquired its Paraguay facility from Bitfarms in January for $85 million. Kilic later informed Cointelegraph that Hive sees Paraguay as a long-term funding, touting the nation’s low-cost hydro energy, geopolitical stability and authorities help.
Bitcoin mining M&A exercise on the rise
Though Hive has expanded past its unique mandate as a Bitcoin miner, it nonetheless views BTC as a core long-term strategic asset.
Earlier this month, Hive introduced it had doubled its each day Bitcoin manufacturing to over six BTC. In keeping with Holmes, that determine is anticipated to double once more to 12 BTC by Thanksgiving, representing roughly 3% of the worldwide Bitcoin community.
Associated: Hive doubles down on BTC hodl technique amid miner fairness dilution, debt reliance
In January, Cointelegraph reported that a number of miners have been adopting a Bitcoin treasury technique to capitalize on anticipated worth appreciation, strengthen their stability sheets and hedge in opposition to forex threat. This development emerged alongside a broader wave of business consolidation that started in mid-2024, pushed partially by post-halving economics and the pivot towards AI.
Because the second quarter of 2024, M&A transactions have elevated steadily, based on knowledge from Structure Companions.
Amongst mining and staking companies, there have been 10 transactions within the first quarter of 2025 valued at $188 million. Within the quarter earlier than that, eight transactions valued at $266 million have been accomplished.
Probably the most notable merger was finalized this month, with CoreWeave buying Core Scientific in an all-stock deal valued at $9 billion. The acquisition got here greater than a yr after CoreWeave first expressed curiosity within the Bitcoin miner, whose board initially rejected the supply as undervalued.
Though CoreWeave was initially a crypto miner earlier than transitioning to an AI infrastructure supplier, its acquisition of Core Scientific doesn’t essentially imply it’s returning to the mining business.
In saying the Core Scientific acquisition, CoreWeave signaled its intention to repurpose the miner’s belongings for HPC or divest its crypto mining enterprise totally.
Different notable M&A offers within the mining business embody Marathon Digital’s acquisition of Generate Capital mining websites, Hut 8’s acquisition of Validus Energy belongings, CleanSpark’s takeover of GRIID Infrastructure and Bitfarms’ buyout of Stronghold Digital Mining.
Journal: Bitcoin’s invisible tug-of-war between fits and cypherpunks
