大型比特币矿企转型人工智能

大型比特币矿企转型人工智能
Major Bitcoin mining firm pivoting to AI

原始链接: https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/cryptomining/major-bitcoin-mining-firm-pivoting-to-ai-plans-to-fully-abandon-crypto-mining-by-2027-bitfarm-to-leverage-341-megawatt-capacity-for-ai-following-usd46-million-q3-loss

比特币矿业公司Bitfarm正在将重心转向人工智能数据中心服务，目标在2027年完成完全转型。由于近期净亏损4600万美元，以及比特币价格上涨带来的矿机表现不佳，该公司认为蓬勃发展的人工智能市场具有更大的潜力。 Bitfarm拥有341兆瓦的现有能源容量——这是避免竞争对手面临的电力获取障碍的重要优势——并计划将其华盛顿站点改造以支持Nvidia GB300服务器。他们还为位于宾夕法尼亚州的新数据中心获得了3亿美元的融资，该数据中心潜在容量为350兆瓦。首席执行官本·加农认为，即使将其基础设施的一小部分转换为GPU即服务，也可能超过其比特币挖矿收入。然而，这一转型代表着巨大的风险，因为人们对潜在的人工智能行业泡沫以及转型所需的巨额投资表示担忧。

## 比特币矿工将目光投向人工智能作为转型选择大型比特币矿业公司越来越多地探索向人工智能（AI）转型，这源于市场条件的变化。虽然完全转型很复杂，但混合方法——利用闲置电力进行AI任务——似乎是最有可能的。主要挑战包括AI对*高度*可靠且受保护的电力源的需求（超出目前大多数矿业设施所能提供的范围）以及专门的清洁设施所需的巨额资本投资。许多矿工正在考虑合作，以分摊电力购买协议（PPAs），以抵消这些成本。有趣的是，人们讨论了基础AI模型训练是否可以利用这些闲置产能。尽管人们担心AI数据中心*也*会将速度置于冗余之上，但重新利用现有矿业基础设施的潜力正在获得关注，正如CoreWeave之前从以太坊挖矿转型所证明的那样。该行业已经投资了数十亿美元——仅2024年就超过36亿美元——用于硬件和基础设施。

原文

Major Bitcoin mining firm Bitfarm has announced that it will pivot its business from cryptocurrency to AI data center services by 2027. Although it’s not the largest crypto mining firm in the U.S., it still has a sizeable operation with 12 data centers dedicated to Bitcoin mining. According to Decrypt, the company’s current energy capacity sits at 341 megawatts (MW), which it could take advantage of to deploy several thousand Nvidia GB300 NVL72 server racks.

“We continue executing on our HPC/AI infrastructure development strategy with a fully funded supply chain and plan to convert our Washington site to support Nvidia GB300s with state-of-the-art liquid cooling,” said Bitfarms CEO Ben Gagnon in a statement to Decrypt. “Despite being less than 1% of our total developable portfolio, we believe that the conversion of just our Washington site to GPU-as-a-service could potentially produce more net operating income than we have ever generated with Bitcoin mining.”

Bitfarm posted a $46 million net loss during its third-quarter earnings call, which is almost a 91% year-on-year increase in net losses from 3Q2024. Although Bitcoin reached an all-time high in early October, its volatility meant that the company could not consistently rely on it for its operating costs. Aside from this, its new T21 mining rigs did not perform as expected, leading to a 14% reduction in its hashrate guidance for 1H25.

Alongside its plan to convert its Washington data center, the company also converted a Macquarie debt facility worth $300 million into financing for its Panther Creek, Pennsylvania, data center, with a potential capacity of at least 350 MW. This site, which adds to the company’s 1.3-GW energy pipeline, could potentially make it one of the larger players in the AI data center industry.

At the moment, Bitfarm has 341 MW of energized capacity, meaning it does not have to negotiate with power providers and local governments to acquire more power for its data centers. This would help them avoid the power bottleneck that other hyperscalers like Microsoft are experiencing, with its CEO, Satya Nadella, saying that the company has AI GPUs sitting idle in inventory because it does not have enough warm shells to plug into.

This pivot would help Bitfarm capitalize on the massive demand for AI processing. However, it’s also taking more risks, especially as many experts are saying that the AI industry is already in a bubble. With the investment to completely move from crypto mining to AI data centers expected to cost hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars, a crash of the AI industry could potentially bring down the company and take the lending institution with it, alongside several other companies, and lead to trillions in losses.

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大型比特币矿企转型人工智能 Major Bitcoin mining firm pivoting to AI

大型比特币矿企转型人工智能
Major Bitcoin mining firm pivoting to AI