Hut 8, one of the largest Bitcoin miners in North America, announced on September 19 that it is expanding its partnership with leading mining platform manufacturer Bitmain. According to Hut 8’s announcement, the collaboration has resulted in the launch of the U3S21EXPH, a next-generation ASIC excavator designed to increase performance and reduce costs.
Hut 8 plans to deploy the model in the second quarter of 2025 via a 15 exahashes per second (EH/s) hosting agreement using custom data center infrastructure developed internally by Hut 8 .
Miner’s most efficient ASIC chip
The U3S21EXPH is Miner ‘s first ASIC with direct liquid-chip cooling in a U-format, making it a more compact and energy-efficient solution.
The new Miner ASIC is capable of achieving up to 860 terahash (TH/s) with a performance of 13 joules per terahash, far outperforming many other Miner ASICs on the market. This performance rating translates into lower power consumption and lower operating costs for miners.
By integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into data center operations, Hut 8 aims to further optimize performance and reduce costs.
“Our partnership with Bitmain has been instrumental in advancing our thoughts on ASIC computing and creating a more scalable data center design model,” – Asher Genoot, CEO of Hut 8, said.
The first contract for the U3S21EXPH is expected to increase Hut 8’s managed computing capacity from 18.5 EH/s to about 33.5 EH/s. As the company prepares for upcoming challenges, including the increased difficulty of the Bitcoin network, the U3S21EXPH offers a potential solution to improve performance and maintain profitability.
The Bitcoin (BTC) mining industry is facing increasing financial pressures due to reduced block grants and rising energy costs. Many mining companies, including Hut 8, are responding by exploring alternative revenue streams and diversifying their operations.
One of their strategies is to increasingly diversify into high performance computing (HPC) and AI data business models . By leveraging their high-performance infrastructure for broader applications, these miners are seeking to secure more stable revenue streams and potentially higher profits.
In addition to the partnership with Bitmain, Hut 8 has secured a massive $150 million investment from Coatue Management. This financing, secured through a convertible bond agreement in June 2024, will be used to develop the company’s next-generation energy and AI infrastructure platform.
