Hut 8 (HUT) FY25 earnings call: guidance and Q&A

Will Hut 8 define what portion of its development pipeline will be allocated to Bitcoin mining versus High-Performance Computing (HPC)?

The core focus for the full development pipeline is AI use cases. Bitcoin mining serves as an alternative use case, allowing confident development of substations and interconnections, knowing there will always be a consumer. The primary goal for all new sites is traditional data centers for AI computing.

“So our key focus around our current full development pipeline is around AI utilization and development, and we're seeing more and more focus on just power at scale and location really being a lower and lower factor in that as well.”

asked by Greg Miller · answered by Asher Genoot

Can you provide details behind the $163 million deposit for future sites?

The deposit is allocated towards land options and procuring long lead-time equipment for future sites. The company is strategic about early-stage investments, focusing on malleable equipment that can be allocated across multiple campuses and keeping upfront risk dollars low until feasibility is confirmed.

“So as we look at kind of developing some of the future sites, we have lots of land options, and we're also procuring long lead time equipment at some of these sites.”

asked by George Sutton · answered by Sean Glennan

How has pricing changed since the Fluidstack and Anthropic deal, and will the next deal see a step-up in economics?

Management believes their deal was 'market' and 'middle of the fairway,' reflecting terms seen in private markets. They do not believe they 'set the market' and continue to engage with customers based on these market terms, aiming to be a 'blue-chip data center development company.'

“I don't think we set the market. I think the majority of transactions in the market happened in the private markets. Everyone is kind of focusing on the public companies, but feels like 80% plus of the transactions are happening in the private markets with kind of the private equity funded development platforms on the data center side.”

asked by Brett · answered by Asher Genoot

Can you provide more detail on growth plans for the Highrise AI cloud business, given a job posting pointed to a potential scale-up from 1,000 to 20,000 GPUs?

Highrise is a private company building a cloud network with a software stack, offering bare metal and multi-tenant solutions. It currently manages over 1,100 GPUs. Highrise can provide financing for the GPU stack and services for data center deals. The company is hiring talent to scale this business, building the foundation for future growth.

“It's not just the story is and we're managing a little over 1,100 GPUs, the story is we built a cloud network. We built a software stack. We offer bare metals. We offer multi-tenant solutions.”

asked by Stephen Glagola · answered by Asher Genoot

Update on OSA negotiations with Fluidstack, construction cadence, number of data halls, and any supply chain or contractor bottlenecks at River Bend.

All aspects of the deal (people, contractors, long lead-time items, equipment) were locked in at announcement. The first data center will be online in Q2, with subsequent ones every 60 days. There are 4 data centers in the initial phase. Construction is progressing well with no bottlenecks. Project financing terms improved to 90% LTC at SOFR +240. Active negotiations are ongoing for the OSA.

“When in the beginning of Q2, we'll have the first data center coming online, and then we'll have a data center coming online every 60 days thereafter. There are 4 data centers in this data hall.”

asked by John Todaro · answered by Asher Genoot

Any update on project-level financing for River Bend and how Bitcoin holdings might fund the equity portion?

The equity portion for River Bend is already fully funded through deposits. The company expects a multi-hundred million dollar cash-out once project financing closes. Bitcoin on Hut 8's balance sheet will be removed long-term, with exposure maintained through equity in American Bitcoin. The company feels confident in closing the project financing with JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs.

“So the equity as of right now is already fully funded, because we've had to fund the projects, our deposits with Vertiv and so forth. So when the project financing actually completes, we're going to get a multi-hundred million dollar cash out of the transaction, then we'll fund our 10% on an ongoing basis.”

asked by Chris Brendler · answered by Asher Genoot