US aluminium giant Alcoa is reportedly close to selling its long-idle Massena East smelter in upstate New York to Bitcoin mining firm New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG). CEO Bill Oplinger told Bloomberg the company is in advanced talks and expects the deal to close “in the middle part of this year.” The Massena East site, on the St. Lawrence River, has been inactive since Alcoa shut it in 2014 amid rising energy costs and global competition.
Aluminum smelters are built for continuous, heavy industrial use and include existing substations, transmission lines and large-capacity grid connections, making them attractive to Bitcoin miners and data-center operators who otherwise face lengthy permitting and buildout timelines. The Massena East location also benefits from hydropower supplied by the New York Power Authority, a key draw for energy-intensive computing firms seeking lower-cost, lower-carbon electricity.
US smelters reborn as crypto, AI data centers
The potential sale is part of a wider trend of repurposing retired industrial sites for digital infrastructure in the US. Earlier this year, Century Aluminum sold its Hawesville, Kentucky smelter to TeraWulf for $200 million, with plans to convert the facility into a high-performance computing and AI campus.
NYDIG has been expanding its presence in Bitcoin mining infrastructure. The Stone Ridge–owned firm holds a stake in Coinmint, which operates hardware at the same campus under a long-term lease. Last year, NYDIG agreed to acquire Crusoe Energy’s Bitcoin mining business, including its digital flare-mitigation operations.
Bitcoin miners pivot to AI
NYDIG’s renewed push into mining comes as many miners diversify into AI and cloud computing amid tightening mining margins. Earlier this year, MARA Holdings purchased a 64% stake in French infrastructure firm Exaion to gain a foothold in AI services. Other companies — including Hive, Hut 8, TeraWulf and Iren — are converting mining sites into data centers, while some firms such as CoreWeave have shifted entirely to AI-focused infrastructure.
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