MARA Holdings and
MARA’s new direction includes acquiring Exaion, an AI and HPC subsidiary of France’s EDF based in Paris, for $168 million, and collaborating with MPLX to build 1.5 gigawatts of power and data center capacity in West Texas. Hut 8 is also growing its presence in North America, overseeing 1.02 gigawatts of capacity and aiming to surpass 2.5 gigawatts to support both Bitcoin and AI operations. These initiatives cater to the rising need for energy-efficient computing, as Bitcoin miners leverage their affordable power and flexible facilities to move into the AI industry.
The United States continues to dominate the global Bitcoin mining sector, contributing 37% of the total hashrate, with Texas serving as a major center. Companies such as CleanSpark and IREN are also shifting toward AI, with CleanSpark acquiring 285 megawatts of power for an AI campus in Houston, and IREN transforming its Texas site into a Microsoft AI data center under a $9.7 billion deal, as noted by
Even with these strong performances, investors remained wary.
Regulatory changes are also influencing the industry. In New Hampshire, a Senate committee was split on a bill to relax crypto mining regulations, underscoring ongoing debates about energy policy. At the same time, Texas’s supportive business climate and renewable energy resources continue to draw investment, with six of the world’s ten largest publicly traded miners headquartered in the U.S.