Mining empire restructures: HIVE Digital signs $220 million GPU contract and shifts to cloud AI sector
The crypto mining market is undergoing a fundamental transformation. HIVE Digital Technologies, known for its presence in the Bitcoin sector, has signed the largest contract in its history for cloud GPU services through its subsidiary BUZZ HPC. The agreement with Bell Canada and Cohere, valued at $220 million, spans three years and involves deploying 2,304 NVIDIA Grace Blackwell graphics accelerators on Bell AI Fabric infrastructure in the province of British Columbia, Canada.
Paradigm Shift: From ASIC to AI Computing
HIVE's strategic move is not just diversification but a deliberate shift from the volatility of mining to stable contract-based revenues. The project launch is scheduled for late 2026 to early 2027, and upon reaching full capacity, the company expects to increase its annual recurring revenue from the current $35 million to approximately $70 million. In effect, HIVE is doubling its cash flow by transitioning from Bitcoin mining to providing computing power for AI workloads.
The choice of partners is also telling: Bell Canada is one of the country's largest telecommunications operators, and Cohere is a Canadian startup developing large language models. This indicates that HIVE is betting on long-term B2B relationships in the high-performance computing (HPC) sector, rather than speculative cryptocurrency trading.
My Expert Assessment
This contract is a clear example of how mature mining companies are adapting to new realities. The ASIC mining market is becoming increasingly competitive and capital-intensive, with profitability declining after each halving. Transitioning to cloud GPU services not only provides HIVE with predictable cash flow but also opens access to the growing AI infrastructure market, which, in my estimation, will grow by 30-40% annually at least until 2030. For investors, this is a signal: miners that fail to adapt risk being left behind.