Hut 8 Corp. (Nasdaq | TSX: HUT), a leading Bitcoin mining company, announced today that it has Expanded BITMAIN Technologies Ltd., the world’s largest producer of Bitcoin mining servers, has announced the launch of the U3S21EXPH, a next-generation ASIC miner. This model will be the first commercial mass-produced mining rig to feature Direct Liquid-to-Chip (DLC) cooling in a U-form factor.
Hut 8 plans to deploy the new mining rig in Q2 2025, with an initial hosting agreement handling approximately 15 exahashes per second (EH/s). This hosting deployment, facilitated by Hut 8’s in-house developed dedicated data center infrastructure, is a key part of the company’s strategy to expand its computing power across the Bitcoin mining and AI computing sectors.
“Our partnership with BITMAIN has allowed us to evolve our thinking around ASIC computing and create a more scalable model for data center design as we scale,” said Asher Ginot, CEO of Hut 8. “The U3S21EXPH will be the first BITMAIN mining rig to be mass-marketed with DLC cooling inside a U-form factor, making it ready to be installed like traditional data center hardware. This innovation bridges important engineering gaps between Bitcoin mining and AI data center infrastructure in both form factor and cooling technology, and we believe this convergence will enable us to unlock significant synergies and flexibility in the future.”
The U3S21EXPH can achieve an efficiency of 13 joules per terahash, producing up to 860 terahashes. It uses DLC cooling, a technology traditionally reserved for high-performance computing (HPC) data centers, to make Bitcoin mining more energy efficient and scalable.
“Ash and Mike have been invaluable thought partners to BITMAIN since the early days of US Bitcoin Corp, demonstrating a unique focus on cost-effective procurement and operations,” said Erin Gao, Vice President of Mining at BITMAIN. “Hut 8’s technical expertise, operational strength, and track record of innovation made this partnership a natural progression of our relationship as we embark on the journey of developing next-generation ASIC technology.”
The commercial agreement between Hut 8 and BITMAIN includes a fixed hosting fee and a purchase option for Hut 8 to purchase the hosted machines in three installments. This structure allows Hut 8 to assess market conditions before making further investments, reducing financial risk. If Hut 8 exercises this purchase option, its self-mining capacity could grow from 5.6 EH/s to 20.6 EH/s.