An energy infrastructure operator and Bitcoin miner today announced a sizeable investment toward building a next-generation, artificially intelligent infrastructure platform.
The Canadian-born Hut 8 secured US$150 million through a convertible note from a fund managed by New York’s Coatue Management. The investment will “accelerate growth in our data centre portfolio and provides access to Coatue’s extensive network of companies and relationships,” according to a statement from the company.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with Coatue, given the firm’s deep expertise and long track record of investments in the AI ecosystem,” stated Asher Genoot, Chief Executive Officer of Hut 8.
Hut 8 operates mining, managed services, and data centre operations across North America, including in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario.
“We believe this partnership will allow us to unlock significant opportunities and connectivity to the broader space as we enter this next phase of growth,” the CEO said.
Traditional data centre operators are failing to meet rising demand for AI compute capacity due to power shortages, long lead times to bring capacity online, and extensive upgrades required, according to Genoot.
Hut 8 is thus in a position to develop and operate complex energy infrastructure to address this unmet demand and emerge as a leader in the market, suggests Philippe Laffont, founder of Coatue.
“We … believe that compute capacity is crucial to unlocking significant growth across the ecosystem,” said Laffont. “Hut 8 is well-positioned to accelerate new compute capacity and can capitalize on the opportunity it will bring.”
“The broader market is beginning to appreciate the scarcity of high-quality power assets, and Hut 8 has built a deep pipeline of highly attractive expansion assets,” added Robert Yin, Partner at Coatue.
“We believe [Hut 8’s] differentiated energy strategy and track record of fast, cost-efficient development will continue to drive competitive advantage as they execute on these opportunities,” Yin continued.
Formerly headquartered in Toronto, Hut 8 is aiming for carbon neutrality next year. The company trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol HUT.
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