05:41 AM EDT, 09/19/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Hut 8 ( HUT ) was at last look up more than 5% in US premarket trade on Thursday as it expanded its partnership with Bitmain Technologies, the world's largest manufacturer of digital currency mining servers, with the launch of U3S21EXPH, the first ASIC miner mass-commercialized by Biitmain.

According to a statement, Hut 8 ( HUT ) plans to deploy the model in the second quarter of next year, through a hosting agreement using custom data center infrastructure developed in-house by Hut 8 ( HUT ).

"Our team worked closely with Bitmain to implement an innovative structure to commercialize the U3S21EXPH before it became available to the broader market," said CEO Asher Genoot in the statement. "For Hut 8 ( HUT ), the benefit of the structure is twofold: it protects our downside with a fixed-price hosting revenue stream, and it creates significant option value with a fixed-price purchase option. We believe this model represents a more thoughtful approach to capturing the lucrative economics offered by next-generation machines, reducing upfront capital requirements while we continue to pursue growth initiatives in AI infrastructure."