Another cryptomining data center firm is exploring a pivot to AI.

Bitfarms last week announced it had tapped Appleby Strategy Group (ASG) and World Wide Technology (WWT), to conduct a comprehensive feasibility analysis on all its North American sites and advise on its global HPC/AI strategy.

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Bitfarms is in the process of acquiring Stronghold, giving it more capacity in the US – Scrubgrass

In parallel, ASG and WWT will help build accelerated sales and development strategies and market the sites on behalf of Bitfarms to potential customers.

Bitfarms CEO Ben Gagnon said: “Bitfarms is committed to maximizing the utility and value of our 1.2GW North American portfolio. ASG and WWT will draw upon their substantial expertise to evaluate our sites for HPC/AI.”

According to the company, ASG and WWT are evaluating Bitfarms’ energy portfolio for potential partial or total conversion to HPC/AI sites, as well as developing an “accelerated sales strategy” to market the sites to potential customers.

Gagnon continued: “Based on active discussions over the past several months with potential HPC/AI partners and customers, we are confident that our North American portfolio pipeline, particularly sites located on the PJM grid, is strongly suited for HPC/AI. The contracts associated with HPC/AI customers provide long-term, steady cash flows and earnings streams while our Bitcoin mining operations will continue to monetize Bitcoin’s flexible upside potential, creating a powerful and resilient portfolio that will generate long-term value for our shareholders.”

Founded in 2017, Bitfarms currently has 12 operating Bitcoin data centers and two under development, as well as hosting agreements with two data centers, in four countries: Canada, the US, Paraguay, and Argentina.

The company’s portfolio totals eight facilities in Canada totaling 158MW; one in the US in Washington totaling 17.5MW with another 120MW site in development in Sharon, Pennsylvania; a 54MW site in Río Cuarto, Argentina; and two sites in Paraguay totaling 80MW.

The company recently entered into a binding agreement to sell its 200MW site in Yguazu, Paraguay to Hive Digital Technologies. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025. Bitfarms said it would be reinvesting the capital from this sale towards its 1GW growth pipeline in the US for BTC and HPC/AI infrastructure.

Bitfarms is also in the process of acquiring Stronghold Digital Mining. Stronghold has cryptomining operations at two wholly owned and operated power plants in Pennsylvania; Scrubgrass Plant and Panther Creek Plant.

Stronghold owns more than 750 acres of land with options on over 1,100 additional acres at the two sites, and currently has 165MW of current nameplate generated power capacity, with expansion potential up to a combined 955MW.

Last year saw Bitfarms battle to stave off being acquired by another crypto firm, Riot Platforms. A settlement was agreed in September that saw Riot end its hostile takeover attempts.

Amid an ongoing capacity crunch, many providers of crypotmining data centers are pivoting to focus on AI. Companies including Applied, Bit Digital, TeraWulf, Core Scientific, Revolve Labs, Northern Data, Crusoe, Mawson, and numerous others are pivoting away from only hosting mining hardware to GPU infrastructure – with many also launching their own AI cloud offerings.