Hut 8 Mining Corp

TSX:HUT

Earnings Call Analysis

Hut 8 achieves significant revenue growth amid strategic restructuring

Hut 8's Q2 2024 revenue surged 72% year-over-year to $35.2 million, supported by managed services growth. Digital asset mining revenue stood at $13.9 million, down slightly from the previous year due to reduced Bitcoin mining. Despite a net loss of $71.9 million—largely driven by a $71.8 million loss on digital assets—the company expanded its gross margin from 34% to 46%. Operational enhancements included miner relocations and infrastructure upgrades, reducing energy costs by 21%. CEO Asher Genoot highlighted ongoing upgrades and a strong development pipeline, signaling robust future growth in both Bitcoin and AI sectors.

A Solid Revenue Growth Framework

Hut 8 reported an impressive 72% year-over-year revenue growth, reaching $35.2 million in Q2 2024. This reflects increased efficiency in their operations despite the challenges posed by a Bitcoin network 'halving' event which raised mining difficulty. Digital asset mining contributed $13.9 million in revenue, although it saw a decline from the previous year due to reduced Bitcoin output caused by increased difficulty. Managed services also flourished, showing remarkable growth by generating $9 million compared to $4.7 million a year prior.

Operational Optimizations Bearing Fruit

The company has demonstrated a strong focus on operational discipline, leading to significant improvements in gross margins for its digital asset mining from 34% to 46% year-over-year. This was achieved despite mining challenges resulting from a 71% increase in network difficulty. By implementing a strategic restructuring plan, including shutting down underperforming sites like Drumheller and optimizing energy use through a proprietary energy curtailment system, Hut 8 has successfully managed to improve cost efficiencies.

Cost Management and Future Projections

The average power cost for mining fell to a competitive $0.032 per kilowatt hour, showcasing a 40% reduction since the previous quarter. These operational efficiencies have allowed the company to limit the increase in the average cost to mine Bitcoin to only 7% quarter-over-quarter, finalizing at $26,232. Going forward, Hut 8's management aims to upgrade their mining fleet with next-gen hardware, projecting a potential increase in deployed hash rates by over 2.5x, vastly improving unit economics.

Strategic Shift Towards Diverse Revenue Streams

In addition to mining, Hut 8 is pivoting towards the high-performance computing (HPC) sector, anticipating $20 million in annual run rate revenue from this area. Their GPU-as-a-service model is expected to go live soon with significant customer demand anchoring these projections. With a pipeline capable of delivering multi-hundred megawatts of power, Hut 8 is positioned to capitalize on its energy infrastructure for both Bitcoin mining and high-performance computing.

Leadership Transition and Future Insights

The company is experiencing leadership changes, with Shenif Visram stepping down as CFO after laying critical financial groundwork. Sean Glennan is set to take the helm as CFO. His extensive background in power utilities and renewables is expected to strengthen Hut 8’s market positioning, particularly as it gears up for aggressive growth plans. Glennan's entry is anticipated to fortify the team that is already actively discussing fleet upgrades and obtaining additional power capacities necessary for fulfilling its ambitious market strategies.

Financial Health and Funding Commitments

Hut 8 ended the quarter with $175.5 million in cash reserves, along with Bitcoin holdings valued at approximately $570.5 million. Despite a gross loss of $71.9 million attributed to digital asset valuation changes, the company's manageable debt of $328.8 million allows for continued investment in growth initiatives. A recent convertible note agreement for $150 million further solidifies their financial agility, emphasizing the board's commitment to maximizing shareholder value.

Long-term Strategic Vision

Hut 8's vision extends beyond mere Bitcoin mining to establish a comprehensive energy infrastructure business. Their strategy employs a three-layer platform encompassing power generation, digital infrastructure, and compute resources. This holistic approach positions Hut 8 not only to efficiently mine Bitcoin but also to leverage energy resources for emerging technologies such as AI. As the company continues to build its capacity, its leaders emphasize disciplined investment and strategic allocation to ensure sustainable growth and profitability.

Earnings Call Transcript 2024-Q2

[Operator]

Good morning, and welcome to Hut 8's Q2 2024 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this event is being recorded and a transcript will be available on Hut 8's website. In addition to the press release issued earlier today, you can find Hut 8's quarterly report on Form 10-Q on the company's website at www.hut8.com under the company's EDGAR profile at www.sec.com and under the company's SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca.

Unless noted otherwise, all accounts referred to during the call are denominated in U.S. dollars. Any comments made during this call may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable security laws regarding Hut 8 Corp. and its subsidiaries. The statements may reflect current expectations and as such, are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, factors discussed in Hut 8's Form 10-Q for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024, and Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, as well as the company's other continuous disclosure documents. Except as required by applicable law, Hut 8 undertakes no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statements.

During the call, management may also make reference to certain non-GAAP measures that are not separately defined under GAAP, such as adjusted EBITDA. Management believes that non-GAAP measures taken in conjunction with GAAP financial measures provide useful information for both management and investors. Reconciliations between GAAP and non-GAAP results are presented in the tables accompanying the press release, which can be viewed on Hut 8's website.

I would now like to turn the call over to Asher Genoot, CEO of Hut 8.

[Asher Genoot, executive]

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today as we look back at an incredibly important quarter for Hut 8. In any market, businesses must navigate the inevitable ebb and flow of macular headwinds and tailwinds. In Bitcoin mining, the network having is amongst the most powerful of these forces. While we cannot control forces like the having, we can control how we respond to the challenges they create. We believe the hallmark of an enduring business is the ability to create value across market cycles. Today, our business is more resilient than ever. Our results this quarter demonstrate that we have delivered on the commitment we made six months ago when I became CEO to center the business on operational excellence and bottom line economics. I'll share the highlights now, and Kenneth will discuss our results in detail.

As a reminder, the current period reflects the combined company's performance while the comparison period reflects U.S. Bitcoin Corp's performance as a stand-alone business prior to the merger. Our revenue grew 72% year-over-year to $35.2 million for the three months ended June 30, 2024. Net loss attributable to Hut 8 for the quarter was $71.9 million versus a loss of $1.7 million in the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $57.5 million versus $14.8 million in the prior year. Both net loss and adjusted EBITDA reflect a loss on digital assets of $71.8 million in accordance with the new FASB fair value accounting rules.

But these figures only tell part of the story, despite the impact of the having on top line production and revenue. we achieved significant gross margin expansion in our digital assets mining business from 34% to 46% year-over-year. Even with the 71% increase in network difficulty over the same period, our relentless focus on bottom line economics enable us to deliver 12 points of gross margin expansion. This success stems from the ambitious restructuring program we launched six months ago, which included the shutdown of our underperforming Drumheller site, the energization of our new Salt Creek site, the relocation of our fleet from hosted to owned facilities and the rollout of our proprietary energy curtailment software reactors. These initiatives have materially improved our unit economics.

In the first quarter, our blended cost across self-mining and hosted operations was [ $0.053 ] per kilowatt hour. In the second quarter, after exiting third-party hosted facilities, implementing our operating technology and upgrading our infrastructure, this figure decreased to [ $0.032 ], a 40% reduction quarter-over-quarter. Furthermore, our average cost of energy per kilowatt hour, which reflects self mining only decreased 21% over the same period. Assuming all other factors remain constant, the cost to mine of Bitcoin would increase by 100% immediately after having event. We limited the increase on our average cost of mine of Bitcoin suggests 7% quarter-over-quarter, bringing it to $26,232.

What is most notable is that we accomplished this with one of the oldest fleets in the industry, averaging 31.7 joules per terahash. Now consider the transformational potential of a large-scale fleet upgrade. Next-generation miners operating at 12 joules per terahash could revolutionize our economics potentially increasing deployed hash rates across our existing infrastructure by more than 2.5x. I'll return to this idea later.

If there's a takeaway, it's this. We prioritized fundamentals above all else, and we invest capital only when we believe it will create enduring shareholder value. This philosophy has guided us in the past and will continue to guide us in the future. Every quarter, we stepped back to assess our performance and measure our progress. All the while, we continue to play the long game, building a resilient generational business requires nothing less. In that vein, let's turn to our strategic priorities for the coming quarters.

Our business is built on a vertically integrated platform, expanding hard assets, products, services, capabilities and technology. We think about this platform as a stock of three interconnected layers. The foundation of our platform is the power layer, comprising assets like interconnects, land and electrical assets. The second layer is digital infrastructure, comprising purpose-built data centers and other load resources. And the third layer is compute, comprising application-specific hardware for energy-intensive technologies like Bitcoin mining and AI compute. Think of the power layer as our operating system, the digital infrastructure layer as our app store and the compute layer as the applications we power.

Power, digital infrastructure and compute, each layer of our platform addresses a distinct market with unique challenges, opportunities, economics and return profiles. Together, they form a vertically integrated platform poised to see the much larger generational opportunity at the intersection of energy and technology. We aim to maximize long-term value creation by playing across the value chain and delivering a differentiated value proposition at each layer of our platform. This model is central to our approach to resource allocation, competitive differentiation and growth.

The broader implication is that we do not view ourselves nearly as a Bitcoin mining or AI business. We are a [ power ] business. Our aim is to maximize low capacity secured in our power layer for the long term. What we do with that power to maximize returns across our digital infrastructure and compute layers will evolve over time as markets and technologies evolve. With that in mind, let's discuss our strategic priorities at each layer.

First, the power layer. We believe high-quality power assets will become increasingly valuable as the demand for energy to support Bitcoin mining, AI and other emerging technologies continues to rise. Our goal is to build a scaled power portfolio capable of meeting this demand across existing and new technologies. To that end, we are aggressively advancing our gigawatt scale development pipeline.

Our team strives to deeply understand the demand of our load profile and how they impact power markets. Deep domain expertise in both power and technology enable us to place low strategically, unlocking access to what we believe are the most attractive development opportunities in the market. In building our portfolio, we prioritize quality as much [ as ] scale. Our deep market connectivity and strong deal flow allow us to be highly selective. We optimize across critical drivers of value, including scale, cost of acquisition, cost of power, term of power and [ thermo site ] control to construct a portfolio that commands a market premium and drive long-term value creation.

Our gigawatt scale pipeline is evidence of the effectiveness of our strategy. Since the merger, we have converted 268 megawatts of high-quality greenfield capacity from this pipeline, expanding our total power footprint to 1,322 megawatts. In the second quarter, we energized 63 megawatts of this capacity at our Salt Creek site, and we are now finalizing plans for our recently announced 205-megawatt greenfield site in the Texas Panhandle.

The Panhandle site exemplifies our approach to portfolio development. With 205 megawatts of immediately available power capacity, it can support digital infrastructure at scale. It is adjacent to a wind farm and benefits for some of the lowest locational wholesale power prices in North America. During periods of low wind generation, it will be able to draw power directly from the [ air cot ] grid, ensuring a reliable supply for use cases like Bitcoin Mining and AI.

Long-term power access and site control further enhance the site's potential value. Our Power First thesis, differentiated strategy and scale development pipeline were instrumental in securing our recent partnership with Coatue. Their $150 million investment together with their expertise, resources and relationships will enable efficient, high velocity growth of our power portfolio. The impacts of this partnership is already evident in the enhanced quality and volume of our deal flow. We look forward to sharing updates on committed projects as they materialize.

Next let's turn to the digital infrastructure layer. Today, this layer of our platform comprises Bitcoin mining facilities and HPC data centers. In the future, it may include other forms of infrastructure, as use cases for our power assets evolve. In this layer, we aim to extend the competitive advantage we have developed in the speed, capital efficiency and quality of our infrastructure development. This means we will continue to strengthen our internal development capabilities with a focus on continuous innovation and value engineering. As demand for AI compute continues to rise, we see a clear opportunity to leverage our capabilities to capture this demand. We are actively exploring projects of multi-hundred megawatt scale with potential JV partners and customers.

At the same time, Bitcoin mining will continue to be an integral part of our strategy. The low cost and high velocity with which we can build Bitcoin mining infrastructure enables us to recoup our initial CapEx quickly and generate strong unlevered returns. This allows us to more aggressively underwrite and acquire large-scale power assets, maximizing the volume of load capacity we secure for the long term. In parallel, it creates the optionality to transition the capacity to use cases like AI, which generally requires longer lead times to commercialize.

I want to emphasize once more that we are not nearly a bicorn mining or AI business. We are a power business, and we monetize our power on an asset-by-asset basis with a focus on driving the highest returns on any given project. In this way, our strategy mirrors the model of a private equity firm managing a diverse portfolio of independent businesses underpinned by a single thesis and platform. With that said, we are currently in discussions for a large-scale partnership for our site in the Texas Panhandle, which can power up to 205 megawatts of NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs or up to 16.5 exahash of next-generation ASIC miners. With engineering, procurement and construction efforts underway, we anticipate energizing the site in the first half of next year. Stay tuned for more.

A brief note on our managed services business, which extends our expertise in infrastructure design, construction and operations to third-party partners. Moving forward, we will pause business development in this segment as we focus on scaling our own portfolio, however, remains a key driver of economies of scale. With this in mind, we have restructured our agreement with Ionic Digital to better align incentives. The revised agreement features a fixed fee of $15 million per year with future upside opportunities for every new site we build or manage.

Finally, the compute layer. The third layer of our platform comprises application-specific hardware such as ASICs and GPUs. Building a business as a fast-moving compute layer requires significantly larger capital investments and assets with significantly shorter lifespans. While this entails greater risk, it also offers the potential for greater rewards. It is within this layer that we can capture the lucrative economics offered by emerging technologies like Bitcoin Mining and AI compute. As technologies evolve, the compute applications that drive the highest returns on our power assets may also evolve. Building for the long-term means we are closely monitoring the development of nascent energy intensive technologies. Our objective is to remain agile and responsive as technologies advance, so we can capture new market opportunities far into the future.

That said, let's focus on the presence Today, we believe Bitcoin Mining and AI compute generate the highest return on large-scale load capacity and digital infrastructure. Given the scale of our power footprint and development pipeline, we are confident in our ability to establish a strong position in both markets. Across our platform, we adhere to disciplined capital deployment strategy, investing only when expected returns surpassed a high hurdle rate. This discipline shapes how we scale our compute layer. In Bitcoin Mining, this focus has driven our efforts over the last two quarters to optimize unit economics and maximize returns of our existing ASIC fleet. With the recent leap in machine efficiency from 18 to 12 joules per terahash, the slowing pace of chip evolution, we now believe it is the right time to upgrade our fleet. We are actively negotiating with manufacturers and project financing partners to formalize the plan.

In AI, this commitment shaped the launch of our GPU-as-a-service vertical which is on track to go live within the coming weeks. Our first cluster 1,000 NVIDIA H100 GPUs will be hosted on a Tier 3 data center in Chicago, reducing the capital commitment required for market entry. Our customer and AI cloud developer has secured exclusive access to our first cluster under a 5-year agreement that provides for fixed infrastructure payments plus revenue sharing. Executing on our strategic priorities at every layer will require disciplined strategic capital allocation, making a strong balance sheet crucial.

At the close of the quarter, we held $175.5 million in cash and 9,102 Bitcoin valued at $570.5 million on our balance sheet, nearly $750 million in total. Equally central to our approach is the judicious use of debt to maximize returns while minimizing shareholder dilution. As we continue to build the business, our purpose is clear: to maximize shareholder value. This means we will continue to take a holistic approach to structure the business, drive down our cost of capital and deliver outsized returns.

I'll end my remarks today on the top of our most important [ asphalt ], our people. Intellectual capital fuels everything we do. We believe that capturing the generational market opportunity we see at the intersection of energy and technology will require exceptional intellect to [ sermon and grit ]. Because of this, building the right team is one of our highest priorities.

Last week, we announced that Sean Glennan will join Hut 8 as Chief Financial Officer on August 21. During his 13 years with Citigroup, Sean advised on more than $80 billion in M&A and capital markets activity across power, utilities and renewables. We are thrilled to welcome him to the organization as we scale our platform with a focus on creative structuring and disciplined capital allocation. In May, we welcomed Victor Semah to the team as Chief Legal Officer. Before joining Hut 8, Victor was Chief Legal Officer of [ Sixtera ] Technologies, a global data center company with 2,300 customers and 60 data centers across more than 30 markets as of its last full year financial report. His extensive experience at the intersection of digital infrastructure, M&A and corporate securities has enhanced our ability to grow aggressively while maintaining uncompromising standards for risk management and downside protection. Both Sean and Victor bring incredible sector depth and functional master to our management team. They recognize the urgency of our thesis. And they know what it will take to build a market-leading energy infrastructure platform, spanning power, digital infrastructure and compute. We are excited to harness their talents to strengthen our team, propel our business forward and create lasting value for our shareholders.

These beginnings also more can end. I want to thank Shenif Visram for his significant contribution to Hut 8 as CFO. Shenif has laid the crucial groundwork of operating excellence, financial discipline and prudent capital management required to build a truly great business. We are deeply grateful to him and wish him the best as he steps down to focus on his family.

With that, I'll turn it over to Shenif one last time to review the financial results in detail.

[Shenif Visram, executive]

Thank you, Asher. Before we review the financial results, I wanted to remind you that U.S. Bitcoin Corp. was deemed the accounting acquirer in the merger. And as a result, the historical figures in our income statements for Q2 2023 reflect U.S. Bitcoin's stand-alone performance. Results for Q2 2024, however, reflect the performance of the combined company. With respect to our balance sheet, Q2 2024 will be compared to year-end 2023, both of which reflect the combined company's performance.

Turning now to our results. We generated revenue of $35.2 million during the quarter versus $20.5 million in the prior year period, which represents a $14.7 million increase. The year-over-year increase was driven in part by growth in our Managed Services segment. Digital asset mining revenue was $13.9 million for the current period versus $15.9 million for the prior year period. Revenue decline was primarily driven by a decrease in Bitcoin mine due to the having and an increase in the network difficulty.

Also, during the second quarter, we relocated miners from the Kearney and Granbury sites to the Alpha and Salt Creek site and completed initiatives at Salt Creek to fortify the upstream electrical infrastructure supporting the facility. This led to temporary downtime, which impacted our digital asset mining revenue in the quarter.

Managed services revenue was $9 million in the current period versus $4.7 million in the prior year period and includes $6 million in management fees, $1.6 million in cost reimbursements and $1.4 million in the form of customer equity versus $3.1 million from fees and $1.6 million in cost reimbursements in the prior year period. The growth in managed services revenue was driven primarily by management fees related to our agreement with Ionic Digital. During the current period, we received only one month of management fees for Kearney and Granbury compared to the prior year period in which three months of management fees were received. We exited both the Kearney and the Granbury sites during the quarter.

High-performance computing, co-location and cloud revenue was $3.4 million for the current period. The revenue for this segment relates to the legacy Hut 8 business that was acquired as part of the merger with Hut 8 Mining Corp. And as a result, the prior year period includes no revenue from this segment. Revenue for this quarter consists mainly of recurring revenue.

Other revenue was $8.9 million for the current period versus 0 in the prior year period. Current period other revenue consists of $3.6 million in equipment sales, $2.4 million in hosting cost reimbursements, $1.4 million in hosting services revenue and $1.5 million in power revenue from our natural gas power plants in Ontario.

I'll now review our costs and expenses. Cost of revenue for digital asset mining for Q2 2024 was $7.5 million versus $10.5 million in the same prior year period. The decrease of $3 million was driven by a decrease in costs after completing the relocation of our fleet from hosted to owned sites, including to our new site Salt Creek which has a favorable energy profile, the implementation of our proprietary curtailment system, resulting in more efficient management of our energy costs, and credits from participation in ancillary demand response programs. Despite the having an increased network difficulty, digital asset mining gross margins grew to 46% in the current period compared to 34% in the prior year period.

Cost of revenues for managed services for the current period was $3.1 million versus $1.5 million in the prior year period. Cost of revenues consist primarily of reimbursable payroll and other site operating costs. The $1.6 million increase was driven by a $1 million increase in reimbursable payroll costs and a $0.6 million increase in other site operating costs driven by the addition of the five Ionic sites.

Cost of revenues for high-performance computing, co-location and cloud for the current period was $2.5 million versus 0 in the prior year period. Finally, cost of revenue for other for the three months ended June 30, 2024, was $7.5 million and consists primarily of $3.2 million in cost of hosting services revenue, of which $3.1 million is electricity costs, $2 million in cost of equipment sold and $2.3 million in cost of [ power ] revenues. Cost of revenue for other was 0 in the prior year period.

Depreciation and amortization expense was $11.5 million for the current period versus $4.1 million for the prior year period. The increase was driven primarily by property and equipment acquired as part of the merger and as part of the Far North acquisition. Also, as discussed last quarter, we adjusted the useful life of some of our mining equipment which led to an increase in depreciation expense of $1.5 million in Q2 2024.

General and administrative expenses were $17.9 million for the current period versus $5.2 million for the prior year period. The increase in SG&A was driven by a $6.7 million increase in stock-based compensation, a $2.4 million increase in salary and benefits due to the head count added as part of the merger and additional team members brought on to support the growth of the business. A $2 million increase in general marketing office and other expenses due primarily to the relocation of miners from Kearney and Granbury to Alpha and Salt Creek and also driven by increases related to additional head count and cost centers acquired as part of the business combination. A $1 million increase in insurance expenses. A $1 million increase in professional fees for corporate development-related items. A $0.7 million in investor relations and regulatory-related expenses due to becoming a publicly listed entity, and $0.7 million in restructuring costs.

Losses on digital assets were $71.8 million for the current period and 0 for the prior year period. The decrease was due to a decrease in market value of our Bitcoin holdings from the last reported period to the current reporting period in accordance to ASU 2023-08 effective July 1, 2023, which requires us to recognize our digital assets at fair value with changes recognized in net income during the reporting period.

The price of Bitcoin on March 31, 2024, was $71,289 compared to the price of Bitcoin on June 30, 2024, of $62,668 such that the decrease in Bitcoin price during the quarter resulted in the loss of $71.8 million. Other income totaled $14.4 million in the current period versus an expense of $2.3 million in the prior year period. The increase of $16.7 million was due primarily to a $17.2 million unrealized gain on derivatives, driven by a mark-to-market gain on covered call options sold during the second quarter and a $0.7 million foreign exchange gain, partly offset by a $0.9 million decrease in equity and earnings of unconsolidated joint venture and a $0.4 million increase in interest expense.

Loss from discontinued operations was $1.7 million in the current period versus 0 in the prior year period. On March 6, 2024, we announced the closure of our Drumheller site in Alberta, Canada in connection with our restructuring and optimization initiatives designed to strengthen financial performance. The $1.7 million loss was related to the closure of Drumheller.

Next, I will discuss net income. Net loss attributable to the company for the quarter was $71.9 million versus $1.7 million in the prior year period. The current period net loss attributable to the company includes a $71.8 million loss on digital assets as we previously early adopted the FASB accounting standards for crypto crystal assets.

Turning now to adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was a loss of $57.5 million versus income of $14.8 million in the prior year period, a decrease of $72.3 million. The decrease was primarily driven by the $71.8 million loss on digital assets. Adjusted EBITDA stayed constant otherwise as the impact of the having and the planned downtime at the Salt Creek site to fortify the upstream electrical infrastructure supporting facility was offset by the impact of optimization efforts and additional profitable revenue for managed services.

Finally, I'll discuss our balance sheet. We closed the quarter with $175.5 million in cash. In Q2 2024, we entered into a convertible note purchase agreement with the fund managed by Coatue Management LLC providing for the purchase and sale of a convertible note in the principal amount of $150 million. Our Bitcoin holdings are market fair value and totaled $570.5 million as at June 30, 2024, based on 9,102 Bitcoin held in reserve. Of this total, 5,022 Bitcoin valued at $314.8 million remained unencumbered at the end of the quarter. Our total debt, excluding leases, was $328.8 million as at June 30, 2024. During the quarter, we entered into the Coatue agreement for a principal amount of $150 million. Our coin-based loan agreement was also amended during the quarter, extending the maturity date by one year. Of the $328.8 million of total debt outstanding, $114.3 million is debt that is to be repaid based on a sweep of cash generated from the assets acquired with the debt with no minimum monthly repayments. We believe this level of debt is manageable as we execute on our growth plans.

During the second quarter, we continued to focus on improving our operational efficiency and driving down our cost base and are beginning to see these efforts materialize in our financials. Subsequent to the quarter close, we announced the first conversion from our pipeline of development opportunities under exclusivity with the announcement of a 205-megawatt site in the Texas Panhandle. With respect to AI and high-performance computing, we expect to begin recognizing revenue in our new GPU-as-a-service vertical in the third quarter. As we continue to convert our development pipeline and engage in discussions regarding fleet upgrade, we will prioritize disciplined growth and capital allocation, driving toward our North Star of maximizing shareholder value.

I wanted to conclude my comments today on a personal note. As Asher shared, I have made the difficult decision to step down from my role as CFO for personal reasons. This decision was based solely on my need to dedicate more time to my family. My tenure at Hut 8 has been both rewarding and enjoyable and have continued to have utmost confidence in the team's ability to execute on its ambitious vision for the future of the company. I want to thank Asher and our Board for their support as I made this decision. At the same time, I would like to welcome Sean to Hut 8. I believe the team and finance organization is in good hands with him as CFO and look forward to following the company's continued success.

I will now turn it over to Sean, who will make some short remarks before we continue with Q&A.

[Sean Glennan, executive]

Thanks a lot, Shenif. I'm thrilled to hit the ground running with the Hut8 team next week and look forward to meeting many of you as I embark on my new role. After nearly two decades in financial services, including 13 years in the Power Utilities and Renewables group at Citi, transitioning to the corporate world was not a decision I made lightly. However, the opportunity to join what I believe is the best positioned company at the center of the megatrend shaping the power and digital infrastructure sectors was one I couldn't pass up.

As I got to know the Hut 8 organization, I was incredibly impressed by the team's talent, drive and passion for what they are building. Under Asher's leadership, it is evident that every member of the team believes they are building a generational business. Having worked with hundreds of companies and management teams in my career, I can say with confidence that finding this type of environment is rare, but it jumps off the page once you see it. Building a generational business is no small feat in any industry. but building one in an industry that necessitates ingenuity, domain expertise, disciplined capital allocation and scale is even more of a challenge.

At Hut 8, I am confident that I'm joining a team more than capable of rising to the occasion. From a strategic perspective, Hut 8 is defining a new market segment by harnessing large-scale energy infrastructure to empower the acceleration of technological progress, particularly on the digital infrastructure front. My experience advising on transactions involving some of the largest players in power utilities and renewables brought me face-to-face with the tremendous market opportunity at the intersection of power and high-performance computing. I was fortunate to have a seat at the table with the executives shaping the landscape.

As these discussions unfolded, it became increasingly evident that incumbent data center operators and developers do not have sufficient infrastructure nor resources to meet the power capacity required to facilitate the advancement of AI. More importantly, they are not well equipped to provide what hyperscalers demand, timely access to multi-hundred megawatts worth of long-term reliable low-cost power. I believe that Hut 8, however, is uniquely positioned to solve this critical challenge. Specifically, the Hut 8 team has positioned itself for this opportunity by executing on a thesis that prioritizes the acquisition of new load capacity.

What further peaked my interest was learning that Asher and [ Mike ] had scaled the business premerger to 730 megawatts of power capacity with a little over $100 million in equity capital. It pointed to an extremely disciplined approach to allocating capital and generating returns on investment, the mentality I plan on not holding in my new role as CFO.

As competition in the power market intensifies, I'm particularly excited to work closely with the corporate development team as it continues to build and convert its pipeline of assets, drawing on deep experience at companies like [ NextEra ], Invenergy, JPMorgan and GE Energy, among others. This team has the expertise and track record required to sit across the table from counterparties that hold the key to new load capacity, many of whom are the likes of my former clients and speak their language. They understand the nuances of the commercial challenges faced by generation counterparties and know how to structure partnerships that solve these challenges. This is the type of dealmaking environment I've prided myself on fostering throughout my career.

More broadly, I believe the focus on disciplined growth, operating excellence and data-driven decision-making that underpins this organization forms a strong foundation on which I plan to build. I am fortunate to enter the organization at a time when restructuring and optimization efforts are well underway, but will nonetheless bring a fresh set of eyes to identify areas for further improvement and efficiencies. And as the business continues to scale and diversify, I am confident that my skill set, Rolodex and the strategic power focus lens through which I plan to approach my role will drive significant value to our shareholders.

I want to thank Asher, Shenif and the entire team for the opportunity to play an instrumental role in Hut 8's next chapter. I believe this is merely the beginning of a period of exponential growth for the company and look forward to providing an update on our progress next quarter.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from John Todaro with Needham.

[John Todaro, analyst]

First, on the HPC business, I guess I have two questions related to HPC. But one on the -- the 1.1 gig in the pipeline, I guess just where do we stand on grid interconnect approval for all of it?

And then my second question, it seems like to me that, that 205-megawatt site could be all for HPC, correct me if not. And then just what are we kind of thinking on time line for groundbreaking on that site as well as what's in the pipeline through the end of calendar '24?

[Asher Genoot, executive]

The pipeline -- all of their assets that we have in our pipeline and assets that we have today, even if they're behind the meter are grid connected. I know there was some confusion when we announced the Texas Panhandle site that this was a behind the meter wind farm and it didn't have great connectivity. That site is [indiscernible] approved, has a substation available and can pull power as long as our data center is built and we have the connection into the [ top ] station.

And so that site today, we're having conversations with customers about a HPC AI build. But we're also having discussions with them about other sites in our pipeline which may be more interesting from them from a kind of fiber connectivity standpoint, that's a little less [indiscernible]. And so we're having active discussions in the multi-hundred megawatt size in regards to AI expansion and looking at both our current fleet and also our expansion pipeline.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from George Sutton with [ Craig Allen ] Capital.

[Unknown Analyst]

Logan on for George. I wonder if we could just start with relative to that GPU-as-a-service vertical, has anything changed with the agreement there? I know last quarter, you were talking about kind of fixed income and then maybe a revenue share. And on top of that, is that something you guys will look to expand here in the future or are you comfortable with where you at right now?

[Asher Genoot, executive]

[ We're ] the same structure that we announced then, so it's on a 5-year contract with the customer. It's a [ fixed base ] with a [ rev ] share model in terms of sharing on the economics and their real-time on-demand marketplace. We are currently looking at financing on a go-forward basis. And so as I focus our business on growth, we're looking at what is the best way to finance this, not just parent-level balance sheet, but also project level financing. So we'll share growth plans aligning and in parallel with financing updates as well.

[Unknown Analyst]

And then I know on the press release and I think in your remarks, you talked about upgrading the fleet. Any sense of like how much of the fleet you'll look to upgrade? And then maybe do you have any ideas on the trajectory of the mining margin? I know you guys made some good progress here on the energy costs, but maybe just some thoughts going forward on that.

[Asher Genoot, executive]

We're really excited by the progress we've made since I took over in February. If you look our cost of power this last quarter was $0.032 per kilowatt hour. I think that's one of the most competitive in the market today. So our power cost of mine of Bitcoin was [ 26,232 ], and that was based on a [ fee ] efficiency of [ $31.7 ] The U.S. generation machines from [indiscernible] are 12 joules per terahash for [ MicroBT ] around 16 to 17 joules per terahash so that's over 50% reduction in efficiency from where we are today. And so with all else remaining equal, you'll see that same reduction in the cost to mine at Bitcoin. So the fundamentals of what is our power cost, how is our infrastructure running. I think we continue to show the market and continue to optimize as a company and now replacing machines with newer generation machines. And I think the most recent announcement on the 12 joules per terahash is a step function from where we were. The most kind of recent machine was around 17, 18 joules per terahash so 12 joules per terahash was a huge leap forward, and we're having active discussions today around the fleet upgrade as our machines kind of start going towards their end of life. And as we look at selling those in refreshing the fleet, that is existing on our infrastructure and then net new growth for new machines for new sites that we have in our pipeline. And so we've shared with the market that our intent is to continue to grow our power infrastructure, and that means being a leader both in the growing and emerging AI sector in multi-hundred megawatt mills, but also a leader within the Bitcoin Mining sector which we've grown on our power footprint, but we haven't grown on our overall exahash and we'll continue to show growth there in the near future.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Mike Colonnese with H.C. Wainwright.

[Michael Colonnese, analyst]

Just a couple for me. You mentioned in the release that -- just spoke on it about the fleet upgrades. If you could just provide a little bit more specifics than what you just mentioned as it relates to a timing perspective? Asher, roughly how long do you think it will take for a full upgrade of your sites after signing a purchase order? And if you could just remind us of the total developed megawatts in the portfolio that is wholly owned by Hut 8 today.

[Asher Genoot, executive]

We're in active discussions with the manufacturers today and different financing mechanisms in order to power the fleet upgrade that we think is the most economic way. If you look at hash price over the last -- [ little bit alone ] I mean in the last 3-month period, you have hash price that had ranges in the $60 per [indiscernible] per day down to as low as $36. So right entry point, right pricing, right financing is critical to us as we look at the fleet upgrade with this new generation machine.

If we look at the overall amount of megawatts that we have, we have a pretty robust pipeline today. In regards to our wholly owned mega lots, we have about 1 gigawatt, including the joint ventures. As you know, with [ King Mountain ], it's a 50-50 joint venture ownership. And so we have a strong pipeline there, and then we have the natural generation facility. So today, we have the 4 operating sites included the expansion site plus the King Mountain joint venture that are active Bitcoin Mining facilities in addition to our pipeline.

[Michael Colonnese, analyst]

And switching over to HPC business. If you could just share what your utilization rate your deployed GPUs is right now? And I think you mentioned previously that you're expecting a $20 million annual run rate revenue from the business. Does that assume 100% utilization?

[Asher Genoot, executive]

That does not assume 100% utilization, that's based on the on-demand rates we're seeing from our partner and the average utilization that they've had across their fleets. So we'll share more of those numbers as we go into the coming quarters and their online and operational and the financials start hitting our reporting metrics.

[Michael Colonnese, analyst]

If I could just squeeze one more in, Asher, on the HPC side. So you talk about the GPU-as-a-service model, which you currently have operating. As we look at future expansion opportunities. I know you talked about evaluating all different types of opportunities, whether it be co-location or somewhat similar to what you're doing now with owning the GPUs, I guess what does that look like in terms of your go-to-market strategy? Are you leaning to one side versus another based on some of the market dynamics today?

[Asher Genoot, executive]

We see it as two separate opportunities. The GPU-as-a-service model. We have a full team that's running that business unit today. they are both looking at expansions with customers, with the supply chain with NVIDIA and also from a financing perspective on a project-level equity and debt perspective. And so that's well underway. The team is built out and they're growing the parent level, we're spending a lot of time working on the demand pull that we see that a lot of the industry and the market is talking about, which is these large-scale customers with multi-hundred megawatt demand for contiguous clusters, and we think a lot of our sites fit within those parameters and what they're looking for from a power availability perspective, it hits the fiber requirements that they have, and we have the ability to given the land requirements that they need as well. And so we're in active discussions there, and that looks more like a co-location deal, we would have a customer and the tenant lease and we will be providing them a data center built-to-suit for that customer on a long-term agreement.

[Operator]

I'm showing no further questions at this time. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.