Riot Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ: RIOT), an industry enabler of vertically integrated Bitcoin (BTC) mining, announced that it has entered into a new purchase agreement with Shenzhen MicroBT Electronics Technology Co., LTD, “through its manufacturing subsidiaries, (MicroBT) a prominent manufacturer of Bitcoin miners.”
Under the Agreement, Riot has “purchased 31,500 next-generation M60S miners from MicroBT for a total consideration of $97.4 million (exclusive of applicable taxes and fees and adjustments), reflecting a rate of $16.50 per TH.”
From this new order, 14,500 miners are “set to be deployed in available capacity at the Rockdale Facility.”
The remaining approximately 17,000 miners “from this order will replace underperforming machines at the Rockdale Facility.”
Miner deliveries are scheduled to “occur in May 2024 and June 2024. Once the 31,500 miners are deployed, Riot’s Rockdale Facility’s self-mining hash rate capacity will increase from 12.4 EH/s to 15.1 EH/s by the end of July 2024.”
The M60S miners purchased “are MicroBT’s latest generation air-cooled machines featuring an efficiency rating of 18.5 J/TH and produce approximately 186 TH/s per machine.”
Jason Les, CEO of Riot, said:
“We are excited to announce this new order of latest-generation M60S miners from MicroBT, which has the dual purpose of both increasing our deployed hash rate and improving our operational efficiency.”
As noted in the update:
“Through our team’s constant focus on improving operations at our Rockdale Facility, we have identified currently deployed under-performing machines best suited for replacement. Replacing these under-performing miners with the new M60S model will have a positive effect on both our operating uptime and energy efficiency, as these are the most efficient miners ever produced by MicroBT. The investment made in this purchase order strengthens our commitment to be a leading low-cost miner and further enhances our industry leading fleet into the future.”
Jordan Chen, COO of MicroBT, remarked:
“The MicroBT team is excited to continue growing our partnership with Riot with this new order of miners for its Rockdale Facility. This is yet another milestone in Riot’s ambitious journey to build a 100+ EH/s mining fleet in the coming years. MicroBT is honored to have been chosen as a strategic partner by Riot for this remarkable undertaking and will provide its unwavering support.”
As mentioned in the announcement, MicroBT is a technology company “based on blockchain, focusing on the R&D, production and sales of integrated circuit chips and products, and provides high performance computing system solutions and technical service.”
MicroBT notes that it has recently “commenced its United States-based manufacturing operations of Bitcoin mining hardware.”