Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings has entered into a strategic partnership with Barry Sternlicht’s Starwood Capital Group to convert its existing mining sites into data center infrastructure for artificial intelligence and cloud computing.
MARA shares jumped about 17% in after-hours trading following the Feb. 26 announcement.
The joint venture targets a capacity of 2.5 GW
The two companies will jointly develop, finance and operate data center projects across MARA’s existing portfolio. Starwood Digital Ventures, the company’s data center platform, will handle design, construction, tenant sourcing and operations. MARA will provide sites with access to low-cost energy.
The joint platform targets approximately 1 gigawatt of computing capacity in the near term, with a path to more than 2.5 gigawatts. The facilities will be designed to switch workloads between Bitcoin mining and AI computers based on market conditions and customer demand. MARA will have the option to retain up to 50% stake in the joint venture, with both companies sharing development costs and profits. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“Our partnership with Starwood will allow us to transform energy certainty into capacity certainty,” said MARA CEO Fred Thiel, adding that the joint venture provides a more capital-efficient approach to building infrastructure.
Starwood Capital manages more than $125 billion in assets. Starwood Digital Ventures operates a team of 94 people with data center expertise across more than 10 GW.
Miners turn to AI infrastructure
The announcement coincided with MARA’s fourth-quarter results, which revealed a net loss of $1.7 billion, largely due to unrealized writedowns on its Bitcoin holdings. Quarterly revenue was $202 million, down 6% from the same period a year earlier. The company trails only Michael Saylor’s Strategy Inc. in corporate Bitcoin holdings.
MARA’s decision corresponds to a model in the mining sector. Companies that once focused solely on Bitcoin production are reusing their energy assets and physical infrastructure for AI workloads, attracted by faster delivery times than building new facilities from scratch.
Several miners who adopted this transition early, including IREN, TeraWulf, and Cipher Mining, saw their market capitalization surpass that of MARA despite producing less Bitcoin mining hash power. Meanwhile, Starboard Value took a significant stake in Riot Platforms, pressing the Texas-based miner to accelerate its own data center conversion efforts.
JLL and Paul Weiss served as strategic and legal advisors to MARA.
