Bitmain, Chinese manufacturer of mining equipment, confirmed that it is opening a cryptocurrency mining enterprise in the United States. Investments in the data center are estimated at about $500 million.
Bitmain, the world's largest producer of ASICs, officially announced that it is opening a division in Rockdale, Texas. Investments in the data center, which will begin operating in early 2019, are estimated at about $500 million within the next seven years. The mining center will create 400 new jobs.
"Bitmain also plans to partner with the local schools and educational institutions to provide professional and technical training programs that would prepare members of the community for careers with the data center."
Bitmain, whose market valutaion after last rounds of financing exceeded $15 billion, explained that new mining facility in the US reflects company's plans for "strategic investment and expansion plans within North America."
The company already published job openings on the popular job search site Indeed. The list of opened positions include project manager and site manager at the data center in Rockdale. In addition to Rockdale, Bitmain is looking for staff in Chandler, Arizona, and Malaga and Wenatchee, state of Washington. This indicates that Bitmain has hige plans on expanding into the US market.
The mining center in Rockdale will open on the basis of of the former Alcoa Rockdale Operations site. The aluminum smelter, supplied by a coal-fired power plant nearby, closed in 2014.
At the end of 2017, Jihan Wu, CEO of Bitmain, talked about Bitmain's plans to move a part of mining activities to other countries amid uncertainty of regulation in China. Among the possible states where Bitmain mining enterprises may appear, Jihan Wu mentioned Canada, with Iran and Russia also considered. In January, it became known that Bitmain registered a subsidiary in the Swiss city of Zug.