HIVE and Keel Boost AI Data Center Presence with New Funding and Strategic Asset Sale

In a significant move to bolster their presence in the AI infrastructure sector, HIVE Digital and Keel Infrastructure are ramping up their investments. This development reflects a broader industry trend of shifting focus away from exclusive bitcoin mining towards more diverse applications, including artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. HIVE has successfully raised $115 million through a convertible note offering with zero interest, intending to utilize these funds to expand its data center network and increase its GPU capacity globally. This strategic move is in line with the company's growing emphasis on Tier III data centers across Canada, Sweden, and Paraguay, which are designed to support a variety of workloads including bitcoin mining, AI, and HPC. To mitigate dilution, the capital raise is complemented by capped call protection, aiming to accelerate the expansion of HIVE's data center footprint. Meanwhile, Keel Infrastructure has opted for a different strategy to fund its transition into AI and HPC. The company has finalized the sale of its 70 MW site in Paraguay for approximately $13 million, marking its exit from Latin America. This move follows Keel's rebranding from Bitfarms and is attributed to the challenging economics of bitcoin mining. According to CEO Ben Gagnon, this exit from Latin America is a deliberate and strategic decision. "We are now focused and committed to building the infrastructure that will support the AI economy in North America," he stated. Gagnon further explained that the proceeds from the sale will essentially bring forward the company's expected cash flow by two to three years, which will be reinvested into Keel's pipeline for HPC and AI. The announcements have had a positive impact on the stock prices of both companies, with shares rising by roughly 7%.