Moses Lake Server Farm to Transition to AI Data Center
A large server farm near Moses Lake, previously used for Bitcoin mining, is set to be demolished and replaced with a high-performance computing and artificial intelligence data center, according to recent city planning documents from January 20.
The City of Moses Lake has outlined a plan to remove the current Bitcoin mining facility and construct a cutting-edge data center aimed at handling AI workloads. Officials have assessed that this project would not likely cause significant environmental harm, granting a non-materiality determination under the state Environmental Policy Act on the same date.
The proposed site covers about 6 acres at the intersection of Tyndall Road Northeast and Randolph Road Northeast, allowing for the development of a data center building of up to 100,000 square feet, which includes office space. This facility is expected to comply with Tier 3 data center standards, emphasizing high availability, security, and operational resilience.
The Moses Lake location is associated with Bitfarms, a North American digital infrastructure entity that once utilized the site as an 18-megawatt Bitcoin mining operation. This facility was part of a larger trend where crypto mining activities were attracted to central Washington due to the area’s affordable power and availability of industrial lands.
In November, Bitfarms announced its intention to transition its Washington operations toward high-performance computing and AI workloads, projecting completion by December 2026. The revamped facility is expected to accommodate advanced liquid-cooled graphics processing equipment necessary for AI and other data-heavy applications.
Bitfarms CEO, Ben Gagnon, remarked, “We continue to execute on our HPC/AI infrastructure development strategy with a well-funded supply chain and plan to convert our Washington site to support the Nvidia GB300 with state-of-the-art liquid cooling.” He also emphasized the ongoing efforts to support Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin GPUs across their portfolio, and with nearly $1 billion available in cash and financing possibilities, they see significant opportunities in a GPU-as-a-Service or cloud monetization approach, especially in Washington.
Gagnon mentioned the potential of the Moses Lake project to potentially exceed the profitability of previous crypto operations, even though it constitutes less than 1% of the company’s total developable portfolio.
He added, “We believe that converting just our Washington site to GPU-as-a-Service has the potential to exceed the net operating income we have historically generated from Bitcoin mining, providing a solid cash flow base to support operational needs as we wind down our Bitcoin operations in 2026 and 2027.”
According to the city’s plan, the existing Bitcoin mining infrastructure will need to be demolished before construction of the new data center can proceed.
This transition highlights a larger trend within the digital infrastructure sector, where companies formerly focused on cryptocurrency mining are increasingly shifting towards artificial intelligence and cloud computing, which demand extensive computing power and stable energy sources.
If the proposed facility comes to fruition, it would enhance the region’s existing concentration of data centers and solidify Grant County’s position as a hub for advanced, energy-intensive computing.
