Jul 13, 2026 | Posted by Abdul-Rahman Oladimeji
Cryptocurrency and AI data center developer Mara has agreed to acquire a powered land site in Matagorda County, Texas, from e-fuels company HIF USA. Located about 90 miles (144km) from Houston, the site covers more than 1,200 acres and is expected to provide up to 1GW of power capacity by October 2027, increasing to 2GW by April 2028. Mara said the site could support a large-scale data center campus and has already attracted interest from potential high-performance computing tenants.
Mara plans to develop the site with Starwood Digital Ventures as a large-scale digital infrastructure campus supporting high-performance computing, flexible compute, and Bitcoin mining workloads. The companies first partnered in February through a joint venture targeting up to 1GW of near-term IT capacity. Construction is expected to begin in phases later this year, subject to regulatory approvals.
“As demand for digital infrastructure continues to grow, we believe sites with access to reliable, scalable power will become increasingly valuable. This acquisition meaningfully expands our long-term development pipeline and strengthens our ability to support high-performance compute and maximize the value of that power over time. We look forward to working with our partners at the site to deliver on the project buildout and drive long-term value for all our stakeholders,” said Fred Thiel, Mara's chairman and CEO
Mara is one of the largest Bitcoin miners in the US, primarily using stranded energy assets to power modular mining operations. In April, the company acquired a 505MW CCGT power plant in Hannibal, Ohio, with over 1,600 acres suitable for a large-scale data center campus, signaling its move into major data center development. The company continues to expand gas-to-power initiatives, including a North Dakota project with NGON that grew from 25MW to 50MW and became fully operational within four months.
