Empery Digital (NASDAQ: EMPD), the former electric car maker turned Bitcoin treasury company, is betting $65 million on AI infrastructure months after a shareholder revolt and a forced Bitcoin divestment destroyed its original cryptocurrency strategy.
This was seen in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing and confirmed in a press release from the Austin-based company that it will acquire a 25% stake in a private entity that is purchasing an industrial property in the Midwest to turn it into an artificial intelligence data center.
The facility comes with a current power capacity of around 150MW, with a recent load study showing it could reach around 300MW.
How did Empyre move from Bitcoin losses to AI ambitions?
Rebranded from Volcon Inc. In mid-2025, it built a Bitcoin treasury that peaked at over 4,000 Bitcoins, which were purchased at an average cost of $117,000 per coin. When Bitcoin fell below $70,000 earlier this year, unrealized losses were more than 40%.
Shareholder Tice B. Brown, who owns about 10% of the company, He called for the resignation of CEO Ryan Lane He called for the complete liquidation of the Bitcoin position.
And the company went to Sell hundreds of BTC Through multiple transactions to finance stock buybacks and repay a $105 million margin loan.
By April, Empery had sold 370 bitcoins at about $66,632 each to draw down its term loan and issued about 1,800 pre-locked coins as collateral. It currently has 2,914 bitcoins in its vault, according to BitcoinTreasuries.net.
In conjunction with the announcement of the artificial intelligence data center deal, Embry stated It will discontinue its Bitcoin treasury dashboard, as the net asset value reported based on cryptocurrency holdings alone “no longer fully reflects the company’s total net asset value.”
What is the structure of an Empery AI infrastructure deal?
Empery’s $65 million buys a 25% stake in a newly formed entity that will own the converted data center. Hunt Properties, a Dallas-based real estate company with more than $2.5 billion in completed projects since 1987, serves as managing member through its subsidiary TexStack Infrastructure, and owns the remaining 75%.
SEC filing It shows Empery has made an initial capital contribution of $2.9 million, with the remaining $62.1 million due at closing, expected in the third quarter of 2026. The total acquisition price for the properties is approximately $230 million, with the due diligence review period ending on July 29.
Hunt Properties has executed a non-binding letter of intent for a triple-net lease with a computing provider serving what the company describes as a “global leader in artificial intelligence computing hardware.” If completed, total lease payments could reach $1 billion over the life of the contract, according to the press release. However, neither party named the tenant.
“This investment is a very unique opportunity to leverage the growing demand for computing and energy and partner with some of the best energy operators and investors in North America for the benefit of Empery Digital shareholders,” Lin said in the announcement.
Empire joins the crowded AI infrastructure race
Empery joins a growing list of Bitcoin miners who are turning to artificial intelligence by reusing their energy assets.
One of the main reasons behind this pivot is dwindling revenues from mining, with some miners seeing little profits from those operations.
Core Scientific has signed a multi-billion-dollar hosting agreement with CoreWeave, while TeraWulf, Hut 8, Iren and Cipher Mining have all announced AI-related capacity plans.
The sector may face financing challenges in the near future, with asset management firm VanEck estimating a near-term financing gap of about $50 billion in a recent report. Van Eck added that long-term capital needs could reach $221 billion if current plans continue. Only about 25% of leased AI and HPC capabilities have been delivered so far.
However, unlike miners, Empery has no existing data center operations, no track record of managing power infrastructure, and the balance sheet still holds thousands of bitcoins earned well above current market prices.
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