Canaan and Northern Data Join Hands to Work on AI, Blockchain and Datacenters

The world’s second-largest Bitcoin mining company Canaan recently announced a new partnership with Bitcoin mining and datacenter company Northern Data AG.

What do the two firms plan?

In a joint press release, the two companies stated that they would bring their resources together to work on data center operations, blockchains, and the development of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. They didn’t provide any further details about their business arrangement. Northern Data was previously known as Northern Bitcoin but changed its name after merging with Whinstone US, a datacenter developer, in 2019.

NG Zhang, the CEO of Canaan, released a statement, acknowledging the rich experience of Northern Data in creating high-performance computing infrastructure. He said that the research and development team from Canaan would collaborate with Northern Data but didn’t reveal any more details about their shared plan.

Northern Data on a partnership spree

The latest partnership with Canaan points towards the growing crypto ambitions of Northern Data. After the high-profile merger with Whinstone US, the company is now working towards the creation of a new Bitcoin mining facility in Texas. The company said that their Texas facility would be “the largest data center in North America and the largest Bitcoin mining facility in the world.”

It also inked a partnership with SBI, a Japanese mining firm, earlier this month. SBI Crypto will be one of the first companies to be located in the Texas mining center.

Texas is now amongst the favorite locations for Bitcoin miners in the US. Several companies are planning to lay the foundation of their massive mining farms in the state. Canaan rival Bitmain also launched a humongous 33,000-acre facility in Rockdale last year. Another company eyeing the lucrative mining gains is Layer 1. The firm, which is backed by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, opened a mining center in Texas this week.