HIVE’s Toronto Data Center Play for AI
HIVE Digital Technologies is making a move—one that could shake up Canada’s AI infrastructure. The company just inked a deal to buy a 7.2-megawatt data center in Toronto, with plans to turn it into a hub for high-performance computing under its subsidiary, BUZZ HPC.
The facility isn’t huge by global standards, but it’s a start. BUZZ HPC wants to upgrade it to Tier 3 status, which means better reliability, and they’re betting on liquid cooling to handle the heat from next-gen GPUs. If all goes as planned, the site could eventually host up to 5,000 of those chips, making it a serious player for AI training and inference work.
But it’s not just about raw power. The company’s pitching this as a sovereignty play—keeping data and compute on Canadian soil, run by a Canadian firm. That might matter to government and enterprise clients worried about where their data lives.
Why This Matters Now
Craig Tavares, BUZZ HPC’s president, put it bluntly: demand for AI compute is exploding, and everyone’s scrambling to secure capacity. Countries, not just companies, are in a race to build out their own infrastructure. This Toronto site is HIVE’s way of grabbing a piece of that.
It’s also a pivot. HIVE started in crypto mining, like a lot of firms now eyeing AI. The shift isn’t shocking—mining’s a volatile business, and AI compute could offer steadier returns. Core Scientific, another bitcoin miner, has made similar moves.
What’s Next
This is BUZZ HPC’s first owned-and-operated facility, so there’s pressure to get it right. Liquid cooling isn’t cheap, and retrofitting an existing site always comes with surprises. But if they pull it off, it could give them an edge in a crowded market.
The bigger question is whether Canada can carve out a real niche in AI infrastructure. The country’s got talent—researchers, startups—but compute has been a bottleneck. Projects like this might help, or they might just be a drop in the bucket. Either way, it’s a sign of where things are headed.
One thing’s clear: HIVE isn’t looking back. Crypto’s still part of the mix, but AI’s the focus now. And with this Toronto deal, they’re putting money—and hardware—where their mouth is.
