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According to CoinTelegraph, MARA Holdings has completed the acquisition of a 64% stake in Exaion, a French computing infrastructure operator. The deal, first agreed in August 2025 with EDF Pulse Ventures — the corporate venture arm of French energy giant EDF — received the necessary regulatory approvals before closing on February 21, 2026. EDF will remain a minority shareholder and continue as a customer.

The transaction also brings in a new strategic partner. NJJ Capital, the investment vehicle of French telecom billionaire Xavier Niel, will acquire a 10% stake in MARA France. Board governance at Exaion will reflect the tri-party structure: three seats each for MARA and EDF Pulse Ventures, one for NJJ, plus Exaion's CEO and co-founder. Both Niel and MARA CEO Fred Thiel will hold board seats. According to The Block, Bloomberg had previously reported MARA paid $168 million in cash upfront for its majority position, with an option to increase ownership to 75% by 2027 for an additional $127 million.

MARA's Exaion acquisition gives the Bitcoin miner direct access to Europe's AI and high-performance computing market. Exaion operates HPC data centers and provides secure cloud and AI infrastructure to enterprise and public-sector clients, including partners such as NVIDIA and Deloitte.

France offers MARA a specific energy advantage. EDF operates one of Europe's largest nuclear-power networks, providing cheap, low-carbon electricity. According to The Block, MARA posted a record $123 million profit last quarter by pairing Bitcoin mining with new power and AI assets. The company is set to release full quarterly earnings next week. We previously analyzed 100 reasons governments and institutions are building Bitcoin reserve positions, showing how infrastructure ownership has become central to the broader digital-asset strategy.

The MARA-Exaion deal is part of a wider pivot by publicly traded Bitcoin miners away from sole reliance on block rewards. After the April 2024 halving cut per-block payouts and rising network difficulty squeezed margins further, several firms began building hybrid revenue models. Bitcoin's mining difficulty rose roughly 15% to 144.4 trillion in February 2026 alone, adding further cost pressure on operators, as reported by CoinTelegraph.

The transition is already producing results elsewhere. HIVE Digital Technologies reported growth from expanding AI operations even during periods of weaker Bitcoin prices. CoreWeave moved from GPU-based crypto mining to become a major AI infrastructure provider. TeraWulf, Hut 8, and IREN are also repurposing mining facilities for AI data center use. According to the original GlobeNewswire announcement from August 2025, the partnership's stated purpose is to position Exaion as a leading European digital infrastructure provider, targeting secure cloud services and HPC deployment at international scale.

Skeptics note that MARA shares fell roughly 40% in 2024 and are down another 17% year-to-date in 2026, reflecting investor uncertainty around the company's diversification timeline. Whether the AI data center strategy can generate steady returns comparable to dedicated infrastructure providers remains an open question for the sector as a whole.