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Artificial Intelligence

Tether Just Made The World's Biggest AI Bet

September 20, 2023
x min read
Tether Just Made The World's Biggest AI Bet

Tether Group, the company behind popular stablecoin Tether, is making a huge new bet - and it isn’t on crypto.

Instead, they are joining in on the AI GPU craze.

What’s happening:

Why it matters:

  • Tether Group is a notable capital allocator, previously being involved in the highly unique $1B round to build the world’s largest Bitcoin mining operation in El Salvador
  • Seeing Tether Group push into artificial intelligence is yet another signal that the demand for cloud computing is rapidly accelerating for startups focused on AI
  • Northern Data could become one of the largest cloud computing companies in all of Europe after this enormous purchase of GPUs

Going deeper:

  • This investment by Tether Group is unprecedented in terms of scale, dwarfing the amount of GPUs of what entire countries such as Britain and Saudi Arabia have purchased
  • Northern Data previously acquired a Bitcoin mining company owned by notable crypto company Block One and already owns two high performance cloud computing companies

The fine print:

  • Tether Group’s involvement is complicated, as they are purchasing the GPUs through a Ireland based shell company that Northern Data has an ownership interest in
  • Further, Northern Data has the right to acquire all of the shell company, but there are not publicly announced details around that
  • It’s not clear as of yet why Tether Group would not be investing in equity in Northern Data, whose valuation is approximately €500M currently given the size of their investment

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