According to Blockworks, Hive Digital Technologies is converting a former European Union data center in Sweden into a facility for cryptocurrency mining. The data center was initially built as a prototype for energy efficiency and sustainability under the EU Horizon 2020 program. Hive Executive Chairman Frank Holmes revealed that the facility will house the company's ASIC servers, increasing its mining capacity by approximately 300 petahash. The data center, known as the Boden Type Data Center, was designed to be the most energy and cost-efficient in the world, featuring a fresh air cooling system and evaporative cooler apparatus using harmonic free renewable energy.
Johanna Thörnblad, president of Hive's Swedish operations, confirmed the acquisition of the former prototype facility. She stated that the data center was initially built in collaboration with the Research Institute of Sweden to address the need for more energy-efficient data centers. The facility has since been expanded to include four additional buildings using low-carbon and locally sourced building materials. Located near Hive's existing Boden facility and within 500 meters of the city's hydro plant, the data center runs on renewable hydro energy and relies on air and evaporative cooling technologies.
Hive acquired the property with a payment structure that includes up to $750,000 in cash and up to $1.5 million in common shares of the company. The common shares portion will be paid in two installments, with the share price determined by specific conditions related to the TSX Venture Exchange's closing prices. The Vancouver-based company plans to continue expanding in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec, as it shifts its focus to supporting the growth of artificial intelligence.