Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings announced a $168 million agreement to acquire 64% of Exaion, a subsidiary of French Electric. French Electric is one of the world's largest low-carbon energy producers.
This agreement was announced on Tuesday, which includes an option to increase the stake to 75% through an additional investment of $127 million by 2027, depending on performance metrics.
Today, MARA and @EDFofficiel signed an investment agreement to expand their global AI/HPC capabilities.
📄 View press release: https://t.co/mH0z6X8NWK pic.twitter.com/HHUyRXQDEj
— MARA (@MARA) August 11, 2025
Exaion collaborates with NVIDIA
Exaion collaborates with AI giant NVIDIA and the Big Four audit firm KPMG to develop high-performance computing data centers and provide AI and cloud infrastructure services.
MARA stated that Exaion will have a global footprint to serve enterprise and public sector customers. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter, pending necessary approvals.
MARA CEO Fred Thiel added, "As data protection and energy efficiency become priorities for governments and businesses, MARA and Exaion's combined expertise will help us provide future-oriented secure and scalable cloud solutions."
The AI expansion comes as BTC mining difficulty surges.
MARA's AI expansion comes at a time when bitcoin mining difficulty is sharply increasing, leading to higher energy consumption. Unless more efficient equipment is replaced or electricity costs are reduced, miner profit margins will be squeezed.
Although one of the largest miners by bitcoin production levels and market capitalization, MARA is one of the last major companies to venture into the AI field.
In comments made through X Spaces, Thiel stated, "We did not join the first wave of AI and HPC business expansion, but chose to invest in partners that already have expertise and a customer base, allowing us to advance quickly, smartly, and confidently."
MARA's new competitors
In July, MARA mined 703 bitcoins, slightly below its competitor IREN's 728. The decline in MARA's output may be due to a reduction in equipment used for bitcoin mining. However, MARA's revenue grew 64% in the second quarter to $238 million, and it still holds nearly $6 billion worth of 50,000 bitcoins, making it the second-largest bitcoin reserve after Michael Saylor.
