Alcoa, the largest US aluminum producer, is on the verge of selling its inactive Massena East smelter in upstate New York to New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG), a Bitcoin mining firm, as part of its strategy to offload idle assets and meet the growing demand for industrial sites with readily available energy. According to CEO Bill Oplinger, the company is in advanced negotiations and expects the sale to be finalized mid-year, as reported by Bloomberg. The smelter, situated on the St. Lawrence River, has been inactive since 2014 due to high operational costs and global competition.
Its appeal to NYDIG lies not in aluminum production but in the site's existing power infrastructure, which can significantly reduce the time required to secure grid access. Furthermore, the site's access to hydropower from the New York Power Authority offers an attractive source of low-cost, carbon-free energy. This deal reflects a larger trend, as seen in Century Aluminum's sale of a Kentucky smelter to TeraWulf earlier this year, which plans to develop a digital infrastructure campus supporting high-performance computing and AI applications.