Alcoa US, a US aluminium company is said to be nearing an agreement to transfer its idle Massena East plant in New York State to the Bitcoin mining group New York Digital Investment Group.
In advanced talks, the company expects to complete its transaction. “in the middle part of this year,” CEO Bill Oplinger told Bloomberg, Friday. This site along the St. Lawrence River has not been active since 2014. Alcoa closed it due to rising energy prices and global competition.
The aluminum smelters, which are built for continuous heavy industrial operation, come pre-installed with transmission lines, substations, and grid connections of high capacity. They are therefore attractive targets for Bitcoin miner and data centre operators. These companies often have to spend a lot of time securing infrastructure approvals.
Massena East is also a beneficiary of hydropower provided by the New York Power Authority. This power source has proven to be a major attraction for firms that require low-cost, lower-carbon energy sources.
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This potential sale is part of a larger trend in the US where abandoned industrial sites are being converted into digital infrastructure. Century Aluminum repurposed a retired industrial site for digital infrastructure earlier this year. sold TeraWulf will acquire the Hawesville Smelter, located in Kentucky for $200 Million. The facility is to be converted into an AI and high-performance computing center.
NYDIG is also expanding its presence in Bitcoin.BTC( mining infrastructure. Stone Ridge already owns an interest in Coinmint that operates the mining hardware on campus, under long-term leasing.
Crusoe Energy also agreed to sell NYDIG acquired its Bitcoin-mining business and digital flare mitigation operations.
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NYDIG has re-invigorated its efforts in Bitcoin mining, while other miners have been increasingly turning toward AI and Cloud Computing as mining margins are shrinking.
MARA Holdings is expected to announce its first quarter results in early this year. acquired a 64% stake Exaion in France, giving it a foothold into AI services. The other miners. including HiveHut 8, TeraWulf, and Iren are all converting mining sites into data centres, while others, like CoreWeave. have fully transitioned AI Infrastructure – Invest in it
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Source: cointelegraph.com
