The largest American public bitcoin miner, MARA Holdings, has entered into an agreement to acquire a strategic land plot with connected power capacity in Matagorda County, Texas. The total transaction value, considering all stages of project development, could reach $600 million. This acquisition is another step in the company's large-scale diversification towards high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The plot, spanning over 1,200 acres (~486 hectares), is located approximately 145 km southwest of Houston. The deal was closed on July 2 through MARA's subsidiary, Volt Texas LLC, with HIF USA LLC, the American division of eco-friendly fuel developer HIF Global. Previously, this site was intended for a large-scale electromethanol production facility.
Financing will be carried out in stages, depending on the achievement of key milestones: regulatory approvals, closing of the land deal (currently under contract), obtaining permission for power supply, and, critically, signing a data center lease agreement with a third-party tenant. After the lease is signed, HIF will retain a minority stake in the project.
Energy Potential and Timeline
MARA expects to gain access to 1 GW of initial capacity by October 2027 and increase this figure to 2 GW by April 2028. Construction is planned for this year. The company has already stated that there is interest in the site from potential tenants in the HPC segment. Combined with the acquisition of the 505 MW Long Ridge Energy & Power gas-fired power plant (a $1.5 billion deal expected to close in the second half of 2026), MARA's potential energy capacity after both facilities are fully operational will more than double, reaching approximately 4.8 GW.
Diversification as a Response to Margin Compression
This acquisition is part of MARA's broader strategy to transform from a classic miner into an energy and infrastructure company. Earlier in February, an alliance with Starwood Capital Group was announced to convert up to 2.5 GW of capacity for AI. Amidst the decline in hashprice to $29.6 per PH/s per day (6% below February's all-time high), such steps appear not merely as diversification but as a necessity for survival.
Meanwhile, miner Bitdeer has begun construction of the first plant in the US to manufacture its own SEALMINER ASIC miners. The $36 million facility in Nevada, with a capacity of 10,000 units per month, is expected to become operational by the end of 2026. This is further confirmation of a trend: the industry is seeking salvation in vertical integration and proprietary developments to reduce dependence on third-party suppliers and increase efficiency.
Internal capital movements are also taking place. The CEO of Cipher Digital (formerly Cipher Mining), Tyler Page, filed a notice of intent to sell 112,500 company shares worth approximately $2.38 million. Cipher Digital, like many others, is restructuring its business from a bitcoin miner into an AI data center developer, having secured major contracts with AWS and Google.
My conclusion: The mining market is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Companies that once simply mined bitcoin are now forced to become operators of energy-intensive AI infrastructure. The MARA deal is not just a land purchase; it is a bet that the future lies in hybrid data centers capable of flexibly switching between mining and HPC depending on market conditions. Those who can not only mine coins but also effectively sell computing power will survive.