MARA (MARA) TD Cowen's 54th Annual Technology, Media & Telecom Conference summary

Strategic shift and business evolution

• Transitioned from asset-light Bitcoin mining to owning power and data center assets, enabling expansion into AI and HPC infrastructure over a multi-year period.

• Acquired significant power assets, including a wind farm and international data centers, with a current portfolio exceeding 1.1 GW and plans to surpass 2 GW after closing the Long Ridge deal.

• Developed a partnership with Starwood to leverage synergies in data center load balancing and tenant leasing, culminating in a formal agreement announced in February after extensive market testing.

• Focused on modular inference AI infrastructure, deploying test installations and targeting both hyperscaler and neocloud clients based on site capacity.

• Strategic priorities for the next 6–12 months include signing tenant leases, closing and leasing Long Ridge, and maximizing shareholder value through asset utilization.

Market dynamics and demand environment

• AI and HPC demand is surging, with hyperscalers and neoclouds competing for limited power and compute capacity, driving up prices and urgency for expansion.

• Silicon vendors are increasingly acting as owner/operators of data center capacity, sometimes bypassing neoclouds to secure power directly.

• Enterprises, especially in finance and trading, are seeking direct large-scale data center deals, while others are exploring private cloud solutions to control costs and data sovereignty.

• European and Canadian markets are prioritizing data sovereignty, creating barriers for U.S. cloud providers and opportunities for local partnerships.

• Demand for AI compute grew 80% year-over-year, with further acceleration expected as agentic AI adoption increases.

Financial structure and partnership model

• Partnership with Starwood allows for up to 50% investment discretion, with contributed assets valued upfront and Starwood required to match equity before further contributions.

• Assets are contributed to the JV only after leasing, with Starwood absorbing cost overruns and providing credit wraps, reducing balance sheet risk.

• The model enables continued Bitcoin mining until sites are fully transitioned, and offers flexibility to either monetize stabilized assets or retain them for ongoing cash flows.

• Long-term vision centers on aggregating land and power, leveraging attractive cash flows, and selectively pursuing smaller deals independently.

• Creditworthiness of tenants is crucial, with silicon providers often required to backstop deals with non-investment grade AI firms.