US aluminium big Alcoa is reportedly nearing a deal to dump its long-idle Massena East smelter in upstate New York to Bitcoin mining agency New York Digital Funding Group (NYDIG).
The corporate is in superior discussions and expects the transaction to shut “within the center a part of this 12 months,” CEO Invoice Oplinger told Bloomberg on Friday. The positioning, situated alongside the St. Lawrence River, has been inactive since 2014 after Alcoa shut it down amid rising power prices and world competitors.
Constructed for twenty-four/7 heavy industrial operations, aluminum smelters include pre-existing substations, transmission strains and high-capacity grid connections. That makes them enticing targets for Bitcoin miners and knowledge middle operators, who usually spend years securing comparable infrastructure approvals from scratch.
Massena East additionally advantages from hydropower equipped by the New York Energy Authority, a key draw for energy-intensive computing companies in search of low-cost and lower-carbon energy sources.
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US smelters reborn as crypto, AI knowledge facilities
The potential sale comes amid a broader pattern throughout the US, the place retired industrial websites are being repurposed for digital infrastructure. Earlier this 12 months, Century Aluminum sold its Hawesville smelter in Kentucky to TeraWulf for $200 million, with plans to transform it right into a high-performance computing and AI facility fairly than conventional industrial use.
In the meantime, NYDIG has been rising its footprint in Bitcoin (BTC) mining infrastructure. The agency, owned by Stone Ridge, already holds a stake in Coinmint, which operates mining {hardware} on the similar campus underneath a long-term lease.
Final 12 months, Crusoe Vitality also agreed to sell its Bitcoin mining enterprise, together with its digital flare mitigation operations, to NYDIG.
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Bitcoin miners pivot to AI
NYDIG’s renewed push into Bitcoin mining comes as different miners are more and more pivoting towards AI and cloud computing as shrinking margins in mining push them to diversify income streams.
Earleir this 12 months, MARA Holdings acquired a 64% stake in French infrastructure firm Exaion, giving the corporate a foothold in AI companies. Different miners, including HiveHut 8, TeraWulf and Iren, are additionally repurposing mining amenities into knowledge facilities, whereas some, comparable to CoreWeave, have fully transitioned into AI-focused infrastructure.
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