Hive Bitcoin Miner Warms Up to Artificial Intelligence With AI Pivot

Bitcoin mining giant Hive has announced a name change and a major shift in focus towards artificial intelligence (AI). The firm has dropped the ‘Blockchain’ part of its name, replacing it with ‘Digital Technologies’ to reflect its new mission. 

On July 12, Hive Digital Technologies unveiled its new name and a “strategic expansion to power the future of artificial intelligence (AI).” 

Nvidia GPUs to Power AI

Hive plans to utilize its existing fleet of Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs) for “computational tasks on a massive scale.”

The cloud computing drive is to advance AI applications such as ChatGPT “to support the new Web3 ecosystem,” it said.

The firm plans to harness the potential of GPU cloud computing technology, which it said was a vital tool in the world of AI, machine learning, and advanced data analysis.

The firm has 38,000 Nvidia GPUs to put to the task. Additionally, it plans to branch out into the rental of GPU server clusters via marketplaces. It will also continue to develop its new service, HIVE Cloud, offering cost-effective solutions to compete with the major commercial cloud service providers.

Hive President and CEO Aydin Kilic explained that training AI tools such as ChatGPT and Midjourney requires high-end GPU computing power. 

“HIVE purchased Nvidia GPUs with these features that go above and beyond the computing requirements for mining Ethereum,” he added. 

The company also announced a partnership with US tech firm SuperMicro, to provide the CPU computing power and storage complementing the GPU fleet. The firm has ordered servers from SuperMicro and expects delivery next month.

“We build infrastructure for emerging digital tech, not just blockchain,” added Kilic, who continued:

“We believe AI and machine learning are going to drive significant demand for GPU compute going forward.”

Mining and GPU Ecosystem Outlook 

Executive Chairman Frank Holmes predicted that demand from GPU computing could increase the firm’s annual revenues to over $100 million.

Nvidia has certainly seen revenue and share price growth this year, with NVDA prices surging more than 200% since the beginning of 2023. 

Bitcoin mining profitability or hash price has taken a hit recently due to record-high hash rates. Hash price, which is measured in dollars per terahash per second per day, is currently $0.073.

It has declined almost 7% since the beginning of the month and 15% since the same time last year.

The average network hash rate surged to a record high of 465 EH/s on July 8 but has dipped to 358 EH/s as of July 12, according to BitInfoCharts data.