Mawson Infrastructure eyes expansion of data centers

Mawson Infrastructure Group, fresh off its $5 million capital raising and the sale of a Texas bitcoin mining facility, is expanding its Midland and Sharon operations.

Mawson, a Nasdaq-listed company (MIGI), is ramping operations up at the former ATI facility in Beaver County. It has already deployed 13,500 mining units there and is on schedule to have 100 megawatts operational in Beaver County by the end the second quarter. The company is also planning to expand its operations in Corning, Ohio. It has purchased a small site within a substation, which will become a 24-megawatt Bitcoin mining and hosting facility.

It's not the only one. Last week, COO Liam Wilson told the Business Times that the company expected to announce soon the location of the second, smaller site in Appalachia. Wilson informed investors on a Monday conference call that Mawson is in the final stages of negotiating to add more bitcoin mining sites. According to a slide presented during the investor call on Monday night, this next site will likely be in Pennsylvania.

Mawson has entered a growth phase after bolstering its balance sheet during a period when other bitcoin miners were experiencing massive turmoil with the price drops in 2022. Last year, it sold its Georgia operations and just last month sold its Texas bitcoin mines for $8.5million. It also completed a capital raise of $5 million, which it plans to use for expansion in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

The company is based in Australia, but it has offices in Sharon, and its largest operation is in Midland. It boasts a diverse revenue stream, including bitcoins it mines on its own machines and money it earns by hosting other bitcoin mining machines. A third stream has nothing to do bitcoin, but it involves payments for reducing its power use when the regional grid requires it.

Mawson's revenue in the first quarter of the year ended March 31 was $7.67m, down from $19.4m a year earlier. However, this is at a time when the company is transitioning their operations. Mawson no longer has operations in Australia, Georgia, and Texas. The company is now based solely in Pennsylvania, with plans to expand into Ohio. In the first quarter of 2018, it produced 121 bitcoins, down from 459 in 2017. This is without Midland or Sharon operating at full capacity. It lost $11.4m in the first quarter. This is similar to last year, when it lost $11.3m.

CEO James Manning stated during the conference call that the company's toughest quarter was the first quarter, as the company moved out of Georgia. Then the Pennsylvania operations are ramping up constantly.