The publicly-listed company Hive Digital Technologies, based in Vancouver, has announced the acquisition of 7,000 new application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) bitcoin mining rigs from Bitmain. The ordered Antminer S21 units are slated for arrival from January through June next year.
Hive Digital Expands Fleet With 1.4 EH/s of Hashpower
Hive Digital (Nasdaq: HIVE) has expanded its inventory of bitcoin (BTC) mining rigs with an additional purchase from Bitmain, following two previous tranches of S19k Pro miners acquired last month. The company’s first purchase involved 5,000 S19k units, followed by a subsequent acquisition of 4,800 S19k Pro units in mid-May.
This latest addition of 7,000 S21 devices escalates Hive’s total orders in recent times to 16,800 of the latest next-generation Bitmain miners. Hive elaborated that upon the installation of the new miners, the company’s array will boast an average efficiency of 25 joules per terahash (J/T).
The addition of 1.4 exahash per second (EH/s) of mining power to its current 6.6 EH/s is expected to elevate Hive’s capacity to a total of 8 EH/s. This expansion follows the firm’s recent strategy to venture into the realms of artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) technologies.
In a move to bolster its technological arsenal, Hive has integrated 96 Nvidia H100 graphics processing units (GPUs) into its growing collection of GPUs. The latest acquisition underscores a period of intense activity in the bitcoin mining sector, with numerous businesses securing rigs from prominent manufacturers like Bitmain and Microbt.
Notably, Cipher Mining has recently added 7.1 EH/s of Bitmain mining rigs to its inventory, while Riot clinched a deal for 66,560 Microbt ASIC miners earlier this month. Similarly, bitcoin mining entity Cleanspark purchased Bitmain’s new S21 units, and DMG secured 4,550 T21 Antminers in December.
The Bitmain models that Hive acquired are air-cooled ASIC devices capable of delivering 200 terahash per second (TH/s) of SHA256 hashrate. Each unit consumes 3,500 watts of power off the wall and boasts an efficiency of 17.5 J/T.
In recent times, the bitcoin mining community at large is bracing for the anticipated halving event slated for the end of March or April 2024. Incorporating new miners into their current operational fleets sets these mining companies up for a competitive edge.
This industry-wide mobilization denotes a deliberate pivot towards heightened efficiency and power. Such strategic preparations guarantee that, upon the halving’s onset, leading mining entities remain equipped to persistently support the blockchain’s security and integrity through enhanced performance and continuous expansion.
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