CleanSpark has appointed Jeffrey Thomas as senior vice president of AI data centers as the company expands beyond Bitcoin mining. The Nasdaq-listed miner announced Monday that it will develop AI data center infrastructure to diversify revenue streams and strengthen long-term cash flow potential.
Thomas previously oversaw Humain's AI data center program in Saudi Arabia, one of the region's largest infrastructure initiatives. He created over $12 billion in shareholder value across 19 ventures throughout his career. At CleanSpark, he will lead efforts to develop large-scale compute facilities serving enterprise and cloud clients.
Market Performance and Strategic Location
The fifth-largest Bitcoin mining company by market capitalization saw its stock price surge over 13% on Monday following the announcement. Shares have risen 140% year-to-date in 2025, trading around $21.86 and approaching levels last seen during the 2021 Bitcoin bull market. The stock is testing its highest range in nearly four years.
Chief development officer Scott Garrison identified the state of Georgia as a strategic region for both potential conversion and expansion. CleanSpark recently contracted for additional power and real estate in College Park to deliver high-value compute to the greater Atlanta metro area. The company is evaluating giga-campus opportunities across its portfolio positioned to meet significant off-taker demand.
Leadership Vision and Vertical Integration
CEO Matt Schultz stated Thomas's appointment positions CleanSpark at the center of the AI and intelligent-computing revolution. The company's vertically integrated model includes self-developed sites, grid interconnections, and land ownership. This approach could provide advantages as the firm transitions from pure-play Bitcoin miner to broader digital infrastructure platform.
Industry Trend: Pivot to AI Compute
The strategic pivot reflects post-Bitcoin halving pressure driving mining companies to explore new revenue sources. Core Scientific, Hut 8, and Iris Energy have announced similar strategic shifts to AI since early 2024. Core Scientific's $3.5 billion deal with AI cloud provider CoreWeave in June 2024 will provide 200 megawatts of infrastructure for high-performance computing operations.
That deal generates over $3.5 billion in total cumulative revenue during the initial 12-year contract terms for the world's largest Bitcoin mining firm. The AI expansion saved Core Scientific's business model after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2022, later relisting on Nasdaq ahead of its AI pivot. Hut 8 launched GPU-as-a-Service through subsidiary Highrise AI in September 2024 and received a $150 million investment from Coatue Management in June.
CleanSpark joins Bitfarms, Canaan, and Galaxy Digital in retooling Bitcoin operations for high-performance computing amid surging AI capacity demand. The trend accelerated following BlackRock and Nvidia's $40 billion acquisition of Aligned Data Centers, which valued data center power capacity at roughly $8 million per megawatt. This represents about 160% higher than the approximately $3 million per MW typical for listed miners, suggesting substantial upside potential for companies securing similar project financing.