Hut 8 Corp. (Nasdaq | TSX: HUT), a leading bitcoin mining company, has expanded Their partnership with BITMAIN Technologies Ltd., the world’s largest producer of bitcoin mining servers, to launch the U3S21EXPH, a next-generation ASIC miner. This model will be the first mass-market miner to feature direct-to-chip liquid cooling (DLC) within a U-form factor.
Hut 8 plans to deploy the new miner in Q2 2025, with an initial hosting agreement handling approximately 15 exahash per second (EH/s). This hosting deployment, facilitated by a custom data center infrastructure developed in-house by Hut 8, is a key part of the company’s strategy to expand its computing power in the bitcoin mining and ai computing sectors.
“Our partnership with BITMAIN has allowed us to advance our thinking on ASIC computing and create a more scalable model for data center design as we expand our footprint,” said Asher Genoot, CEO of Hut 8. “The U3S21EXPH will be BITMAIN’s first widely marketed miner with DLC cooling within a U form factor, making it rack-friendly like traditional data center hardware. This innovation bridges critical engineering gaps between bitcoin mining and ai data center infrastructure in both form factor and cooling technology, and we believe this convergence will allow us to unlock significant synergies and flexibility going forward.”
The U3S21EXPH can reach an efficiency of 13 joules per terahash, allowing for output of up to 860 terahash. It uses DLC cooling, a technology traditionally reserved for high-performance computing (HPC) data centers, to make bitcoin mining more energy-efficient and scalable.
“Asher and Mike have been invaluable partners to BITMAIN since the early days of US bitcoin Corp, where they demonstrated a unique focus on profitable acquisitions and operations,” said Irene Gao, Vice President of Mining at BITMAIN. “Hut 8’s technical expertise, operational strength, and track record of innovation made this partnership a natural evolution of our relationship as we begin 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 acquire the hosted machines in up to three tranches. This structure allows Hut 8 to assess market conditions before making further investments, minimising 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.
