MARA Holdings Inc. will pay $168 million to buy a 64% stake in Exaion, the French high-performance computing and AI infrastructure firm, the company said in a filing published on 11th August.
The purchase will be made by MARA France SAS through a mix of new and existing shares. The deal is set to close in late 2025 or early 2026 after approvals by regulators in France and Canada.
MARA says the move is meant to shift the company beyond Bitcoin mining and into AI data and cloud services. The acquisition will be funded by cash and planned financing and will give MARA control of Exaion’s strategy and operations.
Deal terms
MARA will buy 4.1 million newly issued shares in Exaion for €115 million. It will also buy 1.2 million existing shares from EDF Pulse Holding and other minority holders for €33 million.
At close, MARA will pay €23 million in cash. A further €10 million will be paid in 2027 if Exaion hits agreed performance targets. Together, the new and existing share purchases give MARA a 64% ownership stake.
What Exaion does?
Exaion runs data centres and delivers cloud services for heavy computing workloads. The firm builds and manages systems used for AI, high-performance computing, and secure data processing.
Its work helps clients keep data under local control and meet regional rules on data handling. The company focuses on AI inference, which means running models that are already trained to deliver results for users and businesses.
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Why MARA is buying in
MARA is known for Bitcoin mining, and the company wants new revenue sources as competition in mining grows. Power access and experience with large computing loads make miners natural entrants into AI infrastructure.
MARA sees a chance to use those strengths to supply AI inference services rather than spending on training large models. Inference needs less upfront investment than training and can scale with existing data centre capacity.
How the move fits MARA’s strategy
The company has been building a Bitcoin treasury and raising capital to buy more BTC. MARA recently raised $950 million for Bitcoin purchases while keeping mined coins on its balance sheet.
The Exaion deal complements that plan by adding a business that can sell computing and cloud services to corporate clients. MARA will guide Exaion’s growth while keeping EDF as a minority partner.
Industry context
The AI sector has drawn tens of billions in investment in recent years. That has made the field attractive to firms that run large data centres. Some miners, like Core Scientific and Hut 8, have focused on selling to hyperscale cloud providers.
MARA’s approach differs; it wants to provide sovereign data systems and AI inference to clients who want control over data location and handling.
Regulatory and timing notes
Regulatory approval is required in France and Canada, after which those approvals can close the deal, as the purchase includes existing shares, MARA will gain immediate influence.
The contingent €10 million payment in 2027 ties part of the price to performance. That structure gives both sides a measure of protection as the market moves.
The purchase moves MARA into a firm that serves sensitive workloads and the company can win business from companies that need tight controls on data. It also exposes MARA to a different set of operational and regulatory risks than pure mining.
Success depends on demand for inference services and Exaion meeting performance goals. If demand for AI compute keeps rising, the stake could add steady revenue. If markets cool, the company will still retain the mining business as a base.
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