Bitdeer's Tydal Colocation Lease Marks a Strategic Shift to AI Infrastructure
With a 16-year, $4.7B contract and expanding AI cloud, Bitdeer is transforming from a Bitcoin miner into a multi-pillar digital infrastructure player.
BTDR · Earnings Call · 2026-08-10
Introduction
Bitdeer Technologies Group reported second-quarter 2026 results that showcase a dramatic transformation. Revenue rose 47% year-over-year to $228.8 million, while adjusted EBITDA surged 575% to $31.1 million, driven by a 342% jump in self-mining hash rate to 73 exahash per second. But the headline is the signed $4.7 billion colocation lease at Tydal, Norway, with Volta, marking the company's formal entry into AI infrastructure colocation. This deal, combined with rapid growth in AI cloud services and proprietary ASIC manufacturing, positions Bitdeer as a diversified player across the compute value chain.
The Tydal Turning Point
The Tydal agreement is a 16-year lease covering 121 IT megawatts (133 gross) across four data halls configured for NVIDIA GPUs. It includes a 3% annual escalator and full pass-through of electricity costs, which CFO Michael Potter called "a highly predictable cash flow." Haris Basit, Chief Strategy Officer, highlighted the credit enhancement: "Volta's obligations are anticipated to be backed by an institutional grade credit structure." This structure, using letters of credit, reduces counterparty risk and supports project-level debt financing for the remaining $500 million of development CapEx. “We view this as a prudent capital raise, establishing the liquidity reserve necessary to execute on our AI/HPC pipeline, powered land acquisition priorities and to help ensure that our Tydal site progresses on schedule.” — Michael Potter, Chief Financial Officer · 2026-08-10 The site is expected to reach full readiness in two phases: December 31, 2026 and March 31, 2027. This transaction is a genuine inflection point, as contracted cash flows from colocation are now replacing the volatile revenue of pure Bitcoin mining.
We view Tydal as an important proof point for this strategy, and we intend to pursue additional opportunities of this kind as they arise.
AI Cloud and Vertical Integration
Beyond Tydal, Bitdeer's AI cloud business is scaling rapidly. Annual recurring revenue reached $76 million, up 77% sequentially, with GPU utilization at 95% across 4,248 deployed units. The company signed a new 10-year lease for 21.7 IT megawatts in Malaysia, designed to support 128 NVIDIA GV300 NVL72 systems, with handover expected in Q1 2027. Jihan Wu, CEO, emphasized the shift to long-term contracts: “Right now, when we are discussing with our customers on the CPU contract, mostly focusing on those long-term contracts, I mean 5 years, we are not spending very much time on talking contracts that are shorter than that.” — Jihan Wu, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer · 2026-08-10 This AI cloud business is a core pillar alongside the new colocation segment.
At the same time, Bitdeer's AI data center pipeline extends across its global power portfolio of approximately 3 GW. The company retains 47 megawatts of gross capacity at Tydal for its own AI cloud use, and is actively marketing sites in Tennessee and Washington. The SEALMINER ASIC platform continues to lower mining costs, with the A4 Ultra Hydro achieving 9.45 joules per terahash at the chip level. This vertical integration—spanning chip design, manufacturing, and mining—gives Bitdeer a structural cost advantage that rivals struggle to match.
Financial and Operational Momentum
Second-quarter revenue of $228.8 million reflected strong execution across all segments. While gross margin was negative 3.7%, it improved by $30.5 million sequentially due to normalized power costs and better fleet efficiency. Adjusted EBITDA rose 116% sequentially to $31.1 million. The company ended the quarter with $496 million in cash after raising $457 million via an at-the-market equity program, and it filed a new shelf to access further capital. Bitcoin mining output increased 377% year-over-year to 2,694 BTC, and Self mining hash rate continues to expand steadily. The strategy to prioritize internal deployment over external sales was already signaled earlier: “So you can expect that transition to happen sometime in '26 probably where we'll have more emphasis on sales than on self-usage.” — Haris Basit, Chief Strategy Officer · 2025-02-25
Outlook and Risks
The pipeline for AI colocation extends beyond Tydal. Haris Basit noted, "We are actively looking for other power assets opportunities in Europe," but emphasized that "right now, our focus should be on execute the deal in Tydal." Other U.S. sites like Rockdale and Clarington are being prepared for potential AI use, though Clarington faces litigation that has pushed out its timeline. The company also benefits from its ability to switch power capacity between crypto mining and AI, a flexibility that Jihan Wu called a "big advantage." However, risks remain: the Texas data center pause could affect future permits, and the company is still loss-making on a GAAP basis. Yet the scale of the Tydal contract and the growth in AI cloud suggest Bitdeer is executing on its diversification strategy. The journey, however, was not without prior uncertainty—earlier this year, management was already looking ahead to this milestone: “We think we've -- if it goes through the way we expect -- in the time frame we expect, I think investors should be relatively pleased with both of those issues.” — Haris Basit, Chief Strategy Officer · 2026-05-14