Stock in MARA Holdings rallied 17% after the company revealed a strategic partnership with Starwood Capital Group to develop large-scale data center infrastructure across several of its U.S. locations.
The deal will see certain MARA facilities — initially built for bitcoin mining operations — converted to support enterprise cloud computing and artificial intelligence workloads. Starwood, which oversees more than $125 billion in assets, will manage the design, construction and tenant acquisition through its data center platform, Starwood Digital Ventures. The companies plan to deploy approximately 1 gigawatt of computing capacity in the near term, with expansion targets exceeding 2.5 gigawatts over time. Financing and operational responsibilities will be shared between the two firms.
The agreement represents a significant expansion beyond MARA’s traditional bitcoin mining focus. While the company built its business around mining, it controls sites with access to substantial power capacity — an increasingly scarce resource as AI developers compete for energy-intensive data center projects.
The shift mirrors a wider industry trend among miners adjusting to tighter economics following Bitcoin’s latest halving, which reduced block rewards by 50%. Combined with higher energy costs, volatile bitcoin prices and growing competition, profit margins across the mining sector have narrowed, encouraging firms to diversify into AI and high-performance computing hosting.
Recently, Bitfarms announced plans to rebrand as Keel Infrastructure as part of its transition toward AI-focused data center development.
Despite the pivot, MARA has made clear it is not abandoning bitcoin. Chief Executive Fred Thiel reiterated in a shareholder letter that the cryptocurrency remains central to the company’s long-term strategy.
“Bitcoin remains a core pillar of MARA’s strategy,” Thiel said, adding that while the timing of any price recovery is uncertain, the firm’s conviction in the asset class remains firm.
In its fourth-quarter results, MARA reported revenue of $202.3 million, down 6% from $214.4 million in the same period a year earlier. The company cited a 14% decline in the average price of bitcoin mined during the quarter as the primary driver of the revenue drop.
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