MARA (Nasdaq: MARA) CEO Fred Thiel recently joined The Mining Pod produced by Blockspace, outlining the company’s pivot toward high-performance computing (HPC), energy ownership, and “inference at the edge”, a concept that Fred believes will define the next phase of AI infrastructure.
The largest Bitcoin miner by hashrate and the second largest holder of Bitcoin among U.S domiciled corporations, Thiel’s words tend to carry weight with investors.
Coming on the heels of MARA’s Q3 earnings, the video-podcast conversation marks MARA’s clearest signal yet that it intends to become more than a Bitcoin miner. With $1.4 trillion in AI spending projected over the next five years, Thiel says the future belongs to those who control electrons, not just power purchase agreements.
You’re reading a recap of The Mining Pod. Watch the full episode on YouTube.
MARA: Own the electrons, not renting them
Thiel says the fundamental shift in digital infrastructure comes down to energy control. While many miners rely on PPAs to secure electricity, MARA is pursuing direct ownership of energy assets through joint ventures with companies like MPLX and EDF-subsidiary Exaion.
“If you believe that electrons are the new oil, you want to own the oil,” Thiel said. “As long as you’re paying a PPA, you’re a slave to an energy generator.”
Under its recently announced letter of intent with Marathon Petroleum’s MPLX subsidiary, MARA expects to develop roughly 400 MW of power capacity across three sites, expandable to 1.5 GW by 2027. The company plans to use that energy flexibly, either to mine Bitcoin or to host AI and HPC workloads as demand grows.
Inference at the edge and the coming decentralization of AI
MARA’s vision of “inference at the edge” centers on distributing AI workloads closer to where data is generated, rather than relying on hyperscale cloud providers. Thiel argues that 70% of enterprise data remains behind corporate firewalls, making on-premise or near-premise compute essential for performance and privacy.
“This isn’t about bare metal GPU farms and AI factories,” he said. “We’re looking at how to build strategic relationships with customers, sovereign clouds, private compute, where data sovereignty and security come first.”
In Thiel’s view, the market is overestimating hyperscaler contracts and underestimating the operational risk built into them. Many hosting agreements, he noted, require energization by fixed dates and are financed through special-purpose vehicles rather than parent guarantees.
“These contracts have outs regarding delivery,” he said. “It’s not clear that all of them will be delivered on time.”
MARA’s transition year
Thiel called 2025 a “transition year” for the company. MARA has expanded its self-mining hash rate past 60 EH/s, but the focus is shifting from “chasing hash” to maximizing value per megawatt.
“We’re going to start communicating in megawatt-hour terms,” Thiel said. “It’s not about how much hash you run, it’s about how much profit you generate per unit of energy.”
The company employs around 250 people today and continues to build out its energy management, data center design, and software orchestration teams. Its Exaion investment in France is expected to give MARA access to orchestration and control-plane technologies powering EDF’s sovereign data centers, what Thiel calls “the brain” of future AI infrastructure.
Bitcoin’s path to $1 million won’t be linear
On Bitcoin itself, Thiel said the asset is maturing and volatility will compress as institutional adoption deepens. That evolution, he added, means future bull markets may not follow the traditional four-year halving cycle.
“As the market institutionalizes, a 10% price change now moves $200 billion in value,” Thiel said. “Bitcoin will still grow, but it’s going to be a harder, slower path to $1 million than people think.”
For MARA, that reality reinforces the company’s dual mandate: use Bitcoin mining as a monetization bridge today, while positioning for long-term recurring revenue from AI and HPC hosting.
“Our North Star is simple,” Thiel said. “Maximize the profits we generate per megawatt-hour. The optionality comes from owning the electrons, and deciding how to use them.”
