CleanSpark goes all-in on AI infrastructure strategy with data center in Texas
CleanSpark (CLSK) said last month that it was expanding from a pure-play bitcoin miner into AI data center infrastructure services.
That's a reflection not just of the enormous opportunity in the booming artificial intelligence sector, but also the growing challenges faced by bitcoin miners to turn a profit.
And just weeks after revealing its new operational strategy, CleanSpark has announced that it acquired the rights to roughly 271 acres of land in Austin County, Texas and secured 285 megawatts of long-term power supply agreements.
The company said that it paid a combination of cash considerations and shares of its common stock at closing to purchase the land and power supply agreements.
It expects to begin designing and constructing the campus immediately, using a phased development to support AI workloads. Approximately 200 MW of power is expected to be deployed in the first half of 2027.
CleanSpark said that the campus will be located “on a regional fiber backbone and supported by strong grid infrastructure with close proximity to numerous high-capacity natural gas pipelines.”
Austin Country is located just outside of Houston, which is the fourth largest city in the US.
The company added that the site of its planned data center campus “provides a highly advantageous platform for CleanSpark's continued diversification beyond bitcoin mining into high performance compute (HPC).”
"This acquisition marks a major milestone in CleanSpark's strategic business evolution," CleanSpark CEO Matt Schultz said in a statement.
"Securing power and land at this scale in one of the nation's most attractive markets positions us to meet the accelerating demand for AI compute while continuing to deliver long-term value for our shareholders.”
He indicated that the company is continuing with its bitcoin mining operation, but will also be “actively reviewing AI conversion opportunities across our existing portfolio.”
CleanSpark’s stock has gained 93.3% for the year.
Revenue diversification strategy picks up steam
With its massive land space, Texas has become a highly attractive site to build data centers in the US, with statistics showing about 405 facilities already located there.
But this has also raised concerns about whether the state’s power grid will be able to handle the enormous amounts of electricity required to fuel data centers, especially when Texas is the second-most populous state in the US.
Nonetheless, CleanSpark sees Texas as an ideal location to build out its AI and HPC infrastructure operations.
"The Houston market is emerging as a premier destination for next-generation data center development," Jeffrey Thomas, the company’s senior vice president of AI data centers, said in a statement.
"This acquisition provides CleanSpark with the footprint and power capacity needed to deliver large-scale, high-density compute solutions to global technology partners.”
Thomas was hired last month to lead CleanSpark’s AI growth strategy. He was previously president of AI Data Centres at Humain, a Saudi Arabian-based AI firm.
The Nevada-based company said that its move into the AI data center space will follow the "vertically integrated ‘infrastructure-first’ model” that it has used with its bitcoin mining business in order “to unlock value across its land and power portfolio.”
CleanSpark noted that its expansion into AI data center infrastructure services will help it diversify its revenue stream and strengthen its long-term cash flow.