Canada’s Hive to develop 100MW datacenter in Paraguay

Canadian crypto mining group Hive Digital Technologies plans to build a 100MW datacenter in Paraguay to leverage hydro power produced at the massive Itaipu dam.

The project was confirmed following meetings held between Hive executives and senior Paraguayan officials – including President Santiago Peña, who has sought to make the country a hub for foreign tech investments.

“This potential opportunity is expected to add up to an additional 6.5 exahash per second (EH/s) to our bitcoin mining operations, increasing our global EH/s to 12.1 EH/s. This represents a significant milestone in our diversified growth strategy and supports our commitment to expanding our global footprint with datacenter operations in Canada, Sweden, Iceland and now Paraguay,” Hive’s chairman Frank Holmes said in a release.

Exahash is a unit for hash rates, which are used in data mining to measure the combined computing power of a cryptocurrency network.

One exahash is equal to one quintillion hashes per second. This means 688 quintillion guesses are being submitted to the blockchain every second.

Hive did not provide details as to schedule or to projected capex for the site. 

However, it said the datacenter is expected to generate more than US$100mn in revenue for state power company Ande over the next three years.

Hive also said it has identified the datacenter site and advanced in securing construction and power supply contracts. 

The transaction is subject to final agreements, due diligence, board approval and regulatory approvals, details of which it plans to announce soon.

The company added that future expansions in Paraguay will depend on "stability in government fiscal policies" such as energy pricing and taxation. 

Hive said that it will hire locally, generating thousands of jobs, and offer grid balancing and demand response to support industrial development, while monetizing surplus or under-monetized power assets. 

“Additionally, as the company's energy bills will be paid in US dollars, its operations in Paraguay offer a unique opportunity for the government by providing stable monthly US dollar income, acting as a strategic currency hedge, and ensuring financial stability in an increasingly volatile global currency market,” the company said.

In 2023, electricity constituted 13.2% of Paraguay's total exports, it added.

FOOTPRINT

Hive said it prioritizes its datacenters in cold climates with access to low-cost renewable/green energy, hence the choice of Canada, Sweden, Iceland and – due to the energy factor – Paraguay. The 14GW Itaipu plant is shared 50:50 with Brazil. 

In Canada, the company runs a large fleet of bitcoin miners (approximately 3 exahash/second) whereas in its Swedish facilities it operates a fleet of NVidia GPUs and servers focused on processing capacity for AI, machine-learning, and HPC workloads.

Hive reported annual revenues of US$115mn for its fiscal year ended March 31. During the period, the company said it mined 3,123 bitcoins and held 2,287 bitcoins worth US$161mn on its balance sheet at year-end.

The company said it increased its bitcoin mining hashrate by 57% in the fiscal year to 4.7 exahash from 3.0 exahash in March 2023.