MARA Holdings said Thursday it signed a definitive agreement with HIF to acquire a powered land site of more than 1,200 acres in Matagorda County, Texas, in a post on its official X account. The site will carry up to 1 gigawatt of grid capacity by October 2027 and up to 2 gigawatts by April 2028, subject to approval from Texas grid operator ERCOT.
The deal is not an upfront cash purchase. It is structured as up to $600 million in milestone-based payments tied to regulatory approvals, land access and eventually a signed data-center tenant, according to an SEC filing MARA disclosed, as reported by The Block. MARA shares rose roughly 14% in early trading Thursday on the news, The Block reported.
HIF Global had promoted the site as the first large e-fuels plant in the United States, a roughly $7 billion project backed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott that would split water to make cleaner shipping fuel, BeInCrypto reported. HIF had already secured full permits and grid rights for about 1.8 gigawatts before the deal, and will retain a minority stake in the site once MARA signs a high-performance-computing tenant.
Doubling The Power Pipeline
MARA plans to develop the campus through its existing partnership with Starwood Digital Ventures, which handles design, construction and tenant sourcing. Combined with MARA's pending Long Ridge Energy gas-plant acquisition, full energization of the Texas site would push the miner's total power portfolio to roughly 4.8 gigawatts, The Block reported. MARA Chairman and CEO Fred Thiel said sites with access to reliable, scalable power will become increasingly valuable, according to the same report.