MARA Acquires 64% of EDF’s Exaion in $168M AI Expansion Deal

• MARA will invest $168M  into EDF’s AI arm, Exaion, and expand into cloud solutions.
• The company aims to grow its stake in Exaion to 75% by 2027 with a second purchase.
• This move shifts MARA from BTC mining to the growing AI and high-performance computing.

MARA Holdings Inc. has announced a $168 million agreement to acquire a 64% stake in Exaion, a high-performance computing and AI infrastructure subsidiary of Electricité de France (EDF). The transaction includes both newly issued and existing shares and is expected to close by late 2025 or early 2026 after receiving regulatory approvals in France and Canada. Under the agreement, MARA will pay €23 million upfront and an additional €10 million in 2027 if Exaion meets specific performance targets.

Strategic Shift Toward AI Infrastructure

The acquisition signals MARA’s pivot toward the AI infrastructure market, leveraging its expertise in large-scale, energy-intensive computing operations. The company aims to focus on AI inference services, a segment requiring less capital compared to training AI models from the ground up. This strategy will allow MARA to deliver tailored computing solutions to a broader client base without reliance on hyperscale cloud providers.

MARA plans to raise its ownership stake in Exaion to approximately 75% by March 2027. This will involve acquiring an additional 3.9 million shares for about €110 million. The expanded control will maintain EDF’s minority role while strengthening the operational link between Exaion’s utility heritage and its growing technology focus.

“Our partnership with Exaion would bring together two global leaders in data center development and digital energy,” said Fred Thiel, MARA’s Chairman and CEO. “As data protection and energy efficiency become top priorities for both governments and enterprises, MARA and Exaion’s combined expertise would enable us to deliver secure and scalable cloud solutions built for the future of AI.”

Exaion’s Capabilities and Global Potential

Founded in 2020, Exaion works as a high-performance computing data center and delivers secure cloud and AI infrastructure solutions. It collaborates with global technology partners, including NVIDIA, Deloitte, and 2CRSI. Its services meet the demanding requirements of both enterprise and public-sector clients. Julien Villeret, Head of Innovation at EDF Group, said, 

Since its creation in 2020, EDF Pulse Ventures has supported Exaion’s growth and the development of its cutting-edge digital technologies. This transaction would mark a new chapter, as Exaion would join forces with a seasoned global tech partner while maintaining a collaborative relationship with the EDF Group.

Following the acquisition, Exaion is going to transition into a larger-scale international commercial deployment. MARA intends to integrate Exaion’s platforms, operational capacity, and engineering expertise to expand its AI and HPC infrastructure capabilities, targeting rising demand for secure, high-performance cloud solutions.

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Industry Context and Market Outlook

MARA’s expansion into AI was done at a time when there was a rising Bitcoin mining difficulty, which has increased energy costs and narrowed miner profit margins. Companies in the sector are adapting by investing in more efficient equipment or seeking new revenue streams, such as AI computing.

MARA remains one of the world’s largest Bitcoin miners by network hashrate, capitalization, and production output. In Q2 2025, MARA announced a 64% year-over-year increase in revenues to $238 million, partly supported by its Bitcoin reserves of about 50,000 BTC, worth roughly $6 billion. This places MARA second only to Michael Saylor’s company in corporate Bitcoin holdings.

By partnering with Exaion, MARA aligns itself to capture growth from the two markets of AI and HPC. Thus, an important question for the industry arises: Does such diversification become a necessity for the sustainability of large-scale computing enterprises in the long term?

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