Tether-Owned Northern Data Considering Sale of Bitcoin Mining Firm Peak

Northern Data Group said Monday it is considering selling its Bitcoin mining business, Peak Mining, as it plans to bolster its AI offerings. 

Majority-owned by stablecoin giant Tether, the AI and high-performance computing (HPC) solutions firm is exploring the divestment of Peak Mining “to focus on the acceleration of [its] AI solutions business,” Northern Data said Monday in a statement.

The divestment will allow Northern Data to build out its generative AI cloud platform and portfolio of data centers, making it a “pure-play AI solutions business,” the firm said.

“Our goal is to provide a seamless AI ecosystem where customers can access intelligent, sustainable solutions… and provide the tools they need to make the breakthroughs that have the potential to change the course of history,” Northern Data Group COO Rosanne Kincaid-Smith said Monday in a statement.

It's unclear when Northern Data aims to sell Peak Mining, and how much it expects the prospective sale to fetch. Northern Data did not immediately respond to Decrypt's request for comment on the matter. 

The company plans to use any proceeds from Peak Mining's potential sale to invest in the development and growth of its AI product platform, including new software tools and a range of managed services, according to its statement. It is also considering pouring funds into acquiring more data centers and GPUs to power AI computing.  

Northern Data reported revenues of €26 million (about $28 million) and €59 million (nearly $64 million) in the second and third quarters of 2024, respectively, according to the firm's financial report released last week. The proceeds, which were not broken down by business vertical, came from the company's combined data center, cloud, and Bitcoin mining operations.

The company's play to snap up data facilities comes as energy consumption is expected to surge globally, largely due to the growing use of AI-powered tools. 

A Goldman Sachs Research report published in May 2024 shows that data center-derived power demand will likely grow 160% by 2030, due to AI usage. Processing ChatGPT queries requires roughly 10 times the amount of electricity as generating a Google search, according to the report.

Edited by Andrew Hayward