Bitcoin mining giant BitFury is acquiring a 185,000 sqare meters (1.99 million sq. ft) land plot in Georgia to develop the 'Georgian Technology Park' project.
BitFury is among the leading manufacturers of application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for bitcoin mining, which are used in its own mining operations and marketed to other players in the industry. It has offices in San Francisco and Amsterdam and data centers in Iceland and Georgia. It notes that it selected Georgia due to the "country's attractive investment climate and ease of conducting business."
BitFury will be the first to operate out of the facility, where it plans to build a 100 MW Data Center for bitcoin mining using its 28 nm and upcoming 16 nm ASICs. The new operation will see the company employ the cooling technology of Hong Kong-based Allied Control, which it acquired earlier this year.
BitFury CEO Valery Vavilov commented that the project "envisages the development of the special technology zone with the aim of attracting international technology players." Additional tenants for the site have yet to be announced.
The project is the realization of plans first disclosed roughly one year ago when BitFury secured $20 million in funding. The round was led by private equity firm Georgia Co-investment Fund (GCF), whose CEO, George Bachiashvili, told Finance Magnates that BitFury could also generate revenues through the sale of server space in its data centers.
The announcement comes around the same time as revelations that BitFury may have developed a light bulb capable of mining bitcoin. Images of a possible prototype were obtained at the recent Block Chain Summit held on Richard Branson's private island:
Bitfury developed a light bulb that automatically mines Bitcoin when you screw it in. #sideproject #blockchainsummit pic.twitter.com/8liCtOwlKV
— Marc van der Chijs (@chijs) May 27, 2015The data center will be located in Tbilisi's Gldani District. BitFury did not disclose the amount paid for the land.
