Hut 8 eyes AI push with launch of GPU-as-a-service program

Hut 8 eyes AI push with launch of GPU-as-a-service program

By Benson Toti - min read
Updated 27 September 2024
  • Hut 8 has launched its GPU-as-a-service business to tap into the AI growth potential
  • The Bitcoin miner has partnered with Hewlett Packard Enterprise and AdvizeX to launch the 1,000 Nvidia H100 GPU cluster
  • Hut 8 eyes revenue diversification and long-term growth with this AI bet

Hut 8, an energy infrastructure provider and top Bitcoin miner, has announced that its GPU-as-a-service vertical is live.

The GPU cluster, according to a Hut 8 announcement on September 26, consists of several HPE supercomputers, all powered by 1,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs. The launch follows a partnership between Hewlett Packard Enterprise and information technology firm AdvizeX.

Hut 8 eyeing AI push

Per the press release, Hut 8 subsidiary Highrise AI will host the GPU-as-a-service business, with a five-year deal in place for revenue sharing and infrastructure payments.

The arrangement sees Hut 8 diversify its operations further, and now includes a compute layer that spans artificial intelligence, Bitcoin mining, and cloud services.

“Consistent with our commitment to disciplined capital allocation, we believe a thoughtfully structured AI compute business will be accretive both financially and strategically and drive topline growth, revenue diversification, and long-term value creation, “ said Asher Genoot, Hut 8’s CEO.

A new next-gen mining chip

Hut 8’s launch of the new business vertical comes a few days after the miner announced the launch of U3S21EXPH, a new ASIC miner with direct liquid-to-chip (DLC) cooling.

The miner partnered with leading crypto mining chip maker BITMAIN to develop this new ASIC mining chip. Hut 8 plans to deploy the new model in the second quarter of 2025 via an approximately 15 exahashes per second hosting deployment.

Initial deployment of the 15 EH/s will push Hut 8’s hashrate by about 81%, while the miner expects a possible 20 EH/s of self-mining.