Compute as a commodity? Plus, Hut 8's Beacon Point hopes

Data centers sell compute. That compute is forged from energy, and energy is a commodity. So, can we sell data center output as a commodity? Moreover, can we price publicly listed data center companies (like IREN, CRWV, META, etc) by the price of compute times the capacity of the data center?

A simple line of logic, but it turns out, we are not quite there, says one of our guests today on Blockspace Live.

Brett Harrison, CEO of Architect argues that the market is frankly too young, plus longterm agreements muddy the waters when doing analysis.

“Right now, there really aren't meaningful correlations,” Harrison said. "A big part of that is that a company like CoreWeave is effectively already forward-hedged on compute. They're selling five-year forward contracts for much of the capacity in their data centers, and a lot of that capacity is already booked for years.”

There’s a few roadblocks to consider here:

Going back to Harrison’s main point: compute providers sell longterm deals into the future. In fact, you hear about this in startup land where smaller teams are having a difficult time getting training runs because of the expense. If 90% of compute is locked up in long term deals, and the remaining 10% is super expensive, you have yourself a bifurcated market. Is there truly one market price?

Longterm, we’ll likely see some standardization as the supply side eases. In the short term, expect more chaos.

-WF

Today, we unpack Soluna’s Q2 earnings and welcome the company’s CFO, Mike Picchi, to discuss the results, plus we cover Hunterbrook’s latest report that Nebius’ infrastructure provider in Vineland, NJ, DataOne, has received an order to cease its deployment of Bloom Energy cells on the site. For other interviews, we talk with Luxor CEO Nick Hansen about Luxor Energy’s expansion into SPP, and Architect Financial Technologies CEO Brett Harrison discusses their compute futures offering.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott's new data-center standards appear to exclude Meta's planned 1 GW El Paso campus because the project is served by El Paso Electric outside ERCOT. Future Public Utility Commission requirements could still reach the development.

Core Scientific completed its $444 million cash acquisition of Polaris DS, securing about 440 MW of gross interconnected power in Muskogee. The company plans to expand the site toward 1.5 GW of gross capacity, equal to roughly 1 GW of leasable infrastructure.

Digi Power X generated $1.1 million from roughly five weeks of GPU rental operations during the second quarter. Its planned 40 MW Alabama campus is backed by a 10-year contract representing about $1.1 billion in potential revenue, with expansion rights that could raise the value to $2.5 billion.

Hut 8’s 704 MW Beacon Point campus may be among 23 projects allowed to advance during ERCOT's current review period, according to Needham. Formal authorization remains outstanding, with initial energization still targeted for the first quarter of 2027.

KBW lowered its Bitdeer price target from $14 to $10, citing concerns over Volta's credit support, dilution risk, and Bitdeer's limited U.S. development pipeline. The firm estimates Bitdeer could require another $750 million of equity through 2027.

Alpine Fox reduced its Cipher Mining position by 390,000 shares, though Cipher remained its largest reported equity holding at $82.6 million. The firm also disclosed a new position of 750,882 Soluna shares worth about $1 million.

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