Bitfarms Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
May 11, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Keel has completed its transformation into Keel Infrastructure (U.S. re-domiciliation, rebrand, and sale of Paso Pe) and is now focused on a >2 GW North American pipeline of HPC/AI data center campuses across Pennsylvania, Quebec, and Washington.
  • Positive Sentiment: The company reports ~$533 million of liquidity (cash + Bitcoin) that management says fully funds advancing Panther Creek, Sharon, and Moses Lake through lease execution and covers G&A into 2028.
  • Positive Sentiment: Execution progress: management says zoning approvals are complete at all three near-term sites, land/environmental permits are on track, Tier‑1 construction and engineering partners are engaged, and sites target ready-for-service in 2027.
  • Neutral Sentiment: Management’s top commercial goal is to sign three leases by year-end 2026 (Panther Creek, Sharon, Moses Lake); signed leases are framed as the key inflection that converts assets to contracted cash flow and unlocks project financing.
  • Negative Sentiment: Financial performance remains weak: Q1 revenue fell 23% YoY to $37M, operating loss was $98M (loss from continuing ops $128M) and adjusted EBITDA was negative $17M, driven in part by fair‑value losses on digital assets and a $22M loss on extinguishment of financing.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Bitfarms Q1 2026
00:00 / 00:00

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Operator

Good day. Welcome to the Keel Infrastructure first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there'll be a question and answer session. To ask a question, you will need to press star one one on your touchtone telephone. Please note this call is being recorded. I would like to turn the call over to Jennifer Drew-Bear from Keel Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Jennifer Drew-Bear
Jennifer Drew-Bear
Senior Associate of Investor Relations at Keel Infrastructure

Thank you, and welcome to Keel Infrastructure's first quarter 2026 conference call. With me on the call today are Director and Chief Executive Officer, Ben Gagnon, and Chief Financial Officer, Jonathan Mir. Before we begin, please note this call is being webcast with an accompanying slide deck. Today's press release and our presentation can be accessed on our website under the Investors section. Turning to slide 2. I'd like to remind everyone that certain forward-looking statements will be made during this call and that future results could differ from those implied in this statement. The forward-looking information is based on certain assumptions and is subject to risk and uncertainty. I invite you to consult Keel's 10-Q for a complete list, which will be available on our website and the SEC website.

Jennifer Drew-Bear
Jennifer Drew-Bear
Senior Associate of Investor Relations at Keel Infrastructure

Please note that references will be made to certain non-GAAP financial measures, and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. We invite listeners to refer to today's press release and our file 10-Q for definitions on the aforementioned non-GAAP measures and their reconciliations to GAAP measures. Please note that all financial references are denominated in US dollars unless otherwise noted. Now, turning to slide 3. It is my pleasure to turn the call over to Ben Gagnon, Member of the Keel Board of Directors and our Chief Executive Officer. Ben, please go ahead.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our first quarter 2026 earnings call. Today is a meaningful day for us. This is our first earnings call presenting as Keel Infrastructure. For those tracking this very closely, I want to take a moment to acknowledge what that represents. 2 years ago, we outlined a deliberate multi-year plan to transform this company. Wind down Bitcoin, build out our team, and reposition every megawatt we control towards the most significant infrastructure opportunity of our generation. That plan is now fully in motion. Since our last call just over a month ago, we have also completed our re-domiciliation to the U.S., officially rebranded as Keel Infrastructure, and closed the sale of our Paso Pe site. For those of you joining us for the first time, let me give you a clear picture of who Keel Infrastructure is and what we are building.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

Keel Infrastructure is a North American digital infrastructure company. We own large-scale powered land sites across Pennsylvania, Quebec, and Washington that we are actively developing into over 2 GW of high-performance computing campuses for lease to investment-grade hyperscalers, neoclouds, enterprise, and government clients. The Keel name captures who and what we are. The Keel is the structural backbone of a ship, unseen but essential, converting energy into forward motion. That is exactly what we do for our tenants. We enable and accelerate the data center growth that makes tomorrow's economy possible. Turning to slide 4. Let me take a step back now and talk about why we are attracting so much attention from potential tenants and why we're set up to create tremendous value for customers. The conversation in HPC and AI infrastructure has shifted fundamentally over the past 12 months.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

Customers are not asking, "Can you build data centers?" They are asking, "When can you deliver power in the right location on a timeline that actually matters to my deployment schedule?" "How are you ensuring you can deliver?" The answer to those questions is what separates sites that get leased from sites that sit empty. Our strategy is customer-centric and is structured around solving their highest value constraints. 1, short timelines to power. Our sites have secured power available starting in 2027, enabling customers to accelerate deployment relative to building out interconnections organically. In PJM, Quebec, and Washington, a new large load interconnection can take between 4-10 years. We have already done that work. That timeline advantage is not incremental. It is transformational for customers trying to deploy compute at scale. 2, prime locations.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

Panther Creek, our flagship campus, is a great example of the value our locations bring. The site sits 2 hours away from Philadelphia and New York in the PJM energy market, surrounded by established hyperscaler and neocloud data center infrastructure. Our other campuses follow the same principle, proximity to metro areas and surrounded by our customers' established infrastructure. These are not secondary energy markets. These are primary markets where our customers are actively trying to expand and finding that supply at this time does not exist. 3, a proven permitting strategy built on transparent stakeholder relations. While strong community engagement and support has always been a pillar of our culture at Keel, recent headlines are reinforcing just how critical this is. Our permitting team has decades of regional experience, and we proactively build genuine relationships with the communities around our sites. That approach produces results.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

Zoning is now complete at all three near-term sites. Land development and environmental permits are on track, including our preliminary land development approval at Sharon. Customers who have watched other developers miss permit milestones appreciate what this means for Keel's execution certainty. 4, proven delivery partners with hyperscaler grade track records. With power, land, and community support, we have the foundation in place for success. Customer confidence ultimately comes from execution, which is why we've built a partner ecosystem designed to deliver that certainty. Working with Turner Construction, Corgan, Vertiv, and T5, our customers do not need to take development execution risk on an untested team. Potential customers are looking at our construction and engineering partner roster and seeing our collaboration with best-in-class infrastructure and construction partners that have demonstrated experience delivering for hyperscalers. 5, future-proof designs.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

We are advancing architecture and engineering in parallel with customer conversations, which means that when a customer is ready to commit, we will be ready to easily adapt to their final specifications. We are also thinking ahead. With rapidly evolving technology, it has never been more critical to future-proof our data center development. We are thinking about our customer needs in 2027 and beyond, not just what they need now. Customers value that. Turning to slide 5. Our portfolio is focused on high barrier to entry markets in Pennsylvania, Washington, and Quebec. In these markets, our ability to accelerate timelines and enable regional growth creates real value for customers. Our 2026 priority is clear. Sign 3 leases by year-end, 1 at Panther Creek, 1 at Sharon, and 1 at Moses Lake. We have the right power in the right places with the right timelines.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

As Jonathan will walk through, we are better capitalized than at any point in this company's history, with more than enough liquidity to advance all 3 sites through permitting and lease execution. Across all 3 of our near-term development sites, we are running 3 work streams simultaneously. Finalizing permits, advancing A&E aligned with customer specifications, and actively commercializing to secure highly financiable leases with investment-grade tenants. That parallel execution model is intentional. In this market, customers are making site decisions now. They are looking for partners who can show them a clear, credible path to power, we create that visibility by working with great partners and advancing all 3 work streams together. When a customer is ready to commit, we are ready to build. Let me take you through each of our 3 near-term sites. Turning to slide 6.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

Starting with Panther Creek, our flagship campus in Eastern Pennsylvania and the centerpiece of our near-term development plan. We have 350 MW of secured gross capacity with PPL under an ESA. Development is structured in phases, with an expected ready for service date in 2027 and additional expansion capacity beyond that. Permitting is a subject I know investors track closely. Let me walk through our approach with precision. Permits fall into 3 broad categories: zoning, development, and environmental. Full permitting requires completion across all 3. Our execution strategy is built around local expertise and proactive engagement, planning, and transparency.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

We have assembled a team with deep regional knowledge anchored by a head of permitting with decades of Pennsylvania experience, and that local presence allows us to move efficiently through jurisdictional requirements, and just as importantly, to engage productively with the communities around these sites, who are always key partners in Keel developments. On the permitting progress. Zoning approvals were completed in February, including the data center ordinance approval by the Nesquehoning Borough, a meaningful community milestone. Land development and environmental permits remain in process and are on track. With zoning secured and a clear line of sight on development timelines, we are active in commercialization. To be clear, we do not need to wait, nor are we waiting for every permit to negotiate leases. We give customers the visibility they need to make decisions and the certainty that they need to commit.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

In terms of the customer profile for the site, the scale and location of Panther Creek positions it squarely for hyperscalers and the largest neo cloud operators. 2 hours from New York City with 8 fiber metro networks within 10 miles and direct proximity to established data center clusters, this is the kind of site that gets on a short list quickly. We are in active conversations with multiple potential customers, and the engagement quality has been strong. Beyond the 350 MW of secure power at this campus, we are currently evaluating the conversion of our existing 60 MW ISA to firm service, which could bring total gross capacity upwards of 400 MW or 430 MW. A new load study conducted in 2025 supports potential expansion beyond 500 MW for the overall campus over the longer term.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

We will provide updates as that conversion evaluation progresses. The point is, Panther Creek is a unique asset. It has the proximity and scale to service East Coast inference and training markets for years to come. Turning to slide 7. Moving to Western P.A. We have 110 MW secured via an ESA with FirstEnergy. A 30 MW substation is operational today with an additional 80 MW substation under development. Sharon received full zoning permits last month. That is a significant milestone, and it gives customers increasing confidence in our delivery timeline. Land development has been preliminarily approved, and environmental permits are in progress and on track.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

This site is actively being commercialized with an expected ready for service date as early as 2027. Sharon sits within the PJM market with strong fiber infrastructure across 9 metro networks within 10 miles in proximity to Pittsburgh and Cleveland, two markets that are underserved relative to the East Coast. In terms of customer profile, the capacity and location make Sharon a strong fit for a hyperscaler, neo cloud operator, or large enterprise customers looking to establish a position in Western PJM. We are in active conversations with multiple potential customers, and the response to our programming progress has been positive. Turning to slide 8. Finally, Moses Lake, our 18 MW site in Washington State.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

Small but mighty, Moses Lake is located adjacent to one of the most proven data center markets in the U.S., the Quincy, Washington corridor, which has been home to hyperscaler infrastructure for nearly two decades. Power availability in this region has become one of the most constrained in the country. The combination of existing cluster density and tightening power supply means that operators who need megawatts here have very limited options to grow organically. We are one of those options to establish a footprint or expand an already established operation. Moses is the only site where we made a deliberate capital decision ahead of commercialization. We purchased critical modular data center equipment in advance. That decision enables us to offer customers an accelerated deployment timeline that is not available through a traditional stick build approach. Speed matters to our customers, and we engineered our deployment model to deliver it.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

Zoning in Moses is complete. Land development and environmental permits are in progress and on track, and the Bitcoin mining operations are actively being decommissioned. Like our Pennsylvania sites, Moses Lake is actively being commercialized with strong inbound interest and ongoing engagement with multiple counterparties. In terms of customer profile, the scale of the site positions it as an ideal fit for emerging neo clouds, enterprise, and government customers who need fast, reliable access to the Pacific Northwest market and do not require a campus scale commitment to do so. Faster timeline, smaller megawatt commitment, right market. That is a compelling combination. Across all 3 sites, we have clear line of sight to full permitting, active commercialization, and tangible momentum towards signed leases in 2026. We look forward to keeping everyone updated on our progress. Turning to slide 9.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

From a value creation standpoint, a signed lease is the single most important inflection point for our business. A signed lease does 3 things. It converts our development assets into long-term contracted cash flows. It unlocks access to low cost, non-dilutive project financing. It significantly reduces execution risk for every stakeholder in our capital structure. There is a reason we are intensely focused on getting 3 leases signed this year, where we expect each lease to be an event that reshapes how this company is valued. We are executing against all 3 simultaneously right now. The second value driver we are executing this year is to increase our secured capacity from both expansion capacity and new organic growth opportunities. The 3rd value driver will be delivering on megawatts in 2027.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

We believe that these three inflection points are key drivers of value creation for our shareholders in the near term and long term. With that, I'll turn it over to Jonathan to walk through our financial position and strategy.

Jonathan Mir
Jonathan Mir
CFO at Keel Infrastructure

Thanks, Ben. Turning to slide 10, I want to open with a simple message. We are better capitalized today than at any point in this company's history, and our liquidity position gives us something invaluable in this market, the ability to both advance and de-risk our sites at the pace our customers require, and to make commercial decisions from a position of strength, not necessity. As discussed during our last call, our financial strategy rests on 3 principles: capital allocation, capital formation, and capital structure. Each directly supports our ability to execute our goal of signing 3 leases this year. Before I walk you through our strategy in more detail, I'll briefly go over our results for the quarter. Turning to slide 11. As a reminder, as of Q3 2025, the Paso Pe facility in Paraguay has been classified as held for sale.

Jonathan Mir
Jonathan Mir
CFO at Keel Infrastructure

As a result, all revenues, operating costs, and asset balances associated with Paso Pe are treated as discontinued operations in our Q1 2026 financials. When I refer to continuing operations, I am speaking exclusively about our North American platform, which is the foundation of all our transition into HPC and AI infrastructure. With that, revenue for first quarter 2026 was $37 million, down 23% year-over-year. Operating loss for the quarter was $98 million, including non-cash depreciation of $28 million compared to an operating loss of $35 million in Q1 2025, which included $18 million of non-cash depreciation. The year-over-year change primarily reflects a $41 million loss related to change in fair value of digital assets in Q1 2026, compared to a loss of $23 million in Q1 2025.

Jonathan Mir
Jonathan Mir
CFO at Keel Infrastructure

Loss from continuing operations was $128 million or a $0.21 loss per basic and diluted share, compared to a loss of $38 million or a $0.08 loss per basic and diluted share in Q1 2025. The changes reflect the increase in operating loss and a $22 million loss from the extinguishment of the Macquarie credit facility in Q1 2026. For the first quarter 2026, our adjusted EBITDA was negative $17 million, down from $7 million in 2025. The difference was largely due to an increase in energy and infrastructure expenses of $15 million and an unfavorable change of $7 million in the gain or loss from the sale of digital assets. Turning to slide 12. Let me turn to our capital position.

Jonathan Mir
Jonathan Mir
CFO at Keel Infrastructure

Since our last call, we have taken two actions that further strengthen our balance sheet. First, we closed the sale of our Paso Pe site, which brought forward roughly 2-3 years of estimated cash flow under current market conditions in cash and upfront. Second, we have continued to actively manage our Bitcoin holdings, selling into strength and methodically converting a volatile asset into the stable capital our development business requires. During the period beginning January 1, 2026, and ending May 8, 2026, we sold 269 Bitcoin for $20 million in proceeds as part of our previously communicated plans to sell our Bitcoin holdings in 2026. Current liquidity as of May 8, 2026, stood at approximately $533 million in cash and Bitcoin. Let me put that number into context.

Jonathan Mir
Jonathan Mir
CFO at Keel Infrastructure

This fully funds the capital required to advance Panther Creek, Sharon, and Moses Lake through lease execution, as well as the start of construction at Moses Lake and covers our G&A through 2028. We believe this liquidity is a strategic advantage. We can continue developing at the speed our customers require while maintaining discipline and deploying capital where the returns are most compelling. Let me now walk through the three principles that guide our financial strategy. First, capital allocation. Every dollar we are deploying today is advancing our three priority sites toward lease execution. We believe it is the highest return use of capital available to us at this stage of the company's development. Second, capital formation. As I noted, we have the liquidity to reach lease execution across all three sites without the need to tap into debt or equity capital markets.

Jonathan Mir
Jonathan Mir
CFO at Keel Infrastructure

That said, we will remain opportunistic if attractive opportunities arise. Once we execute leases, we would expect to transition to project-level financing models supported by long-term contracted cash flows, enabling us to fund construction with a high proportion of non-recourse capital while preserving flexibility at the corporate level. The institutional financing market for HPC AI infrastructure continues to strengthen, we believe we're well-positioned to access it on favorable terms at the appropriate time. Third, capital structure. We operate with a disciplined liquidity strategy so that we can remain flexible when making commercial decisions. As I mentioned a few moments ago, we have more than adequate liquidity today to execute against our strategy without the need to tap into capital markets.

Jonathan Mir
Jonathan Mir
CFO at Keel Infrastructure

That said, we'll always take the necessary steps to ensure a strong balance sheet, and we would envision having a credit line and/or an ATM in place at some point this year, as we believe these are prudent tools for any public company to have available. Again, liquidity and capital strength are directly supportive of our commercial strategy.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

Thanks, Jonathan. Before we open for questions, I want to drive home a few things. This company has done what it said it would do. We said we would build a North American infrastructure platform. We built it. We said we would exit Latin American megawatts. Done. We said we would re-domicile to the United States and rebrand. Complete. We said we would position our megawatts in the most capacity-constrained, high-demand markets in North America, and this is exactly where 100% of our portfolio sits today. The case for Keel Infrastructure is direct. Power availability is the single biggest bottleneck constraining the growth of the AI economy. We control scarce, deliverable power in 3 of the most supply-constrained markets in North America, allowing us to work alongside our customers to solve that challenge together.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

We have the sites, the team, the permits in progress, the partners, and the balance sheet to execute. We are executing now. 3 leases signed by year-end, revenue commencing in 2027. That is the plan. That is what we are focused on delivering. I want to close by acknowledging our fantastic team. The pace and the precision with which we have executed this transformation, the transactions, the hires, the permitting progress, the commercialization, is not the result of any 1 decision. It is the result of hundreds of well-made decisions by a team that is fully committed to this mission. I've never had more confidence in our team and our ability to deliver. I look forward to continuing to update you on our progress. With that, I would like to open the call to Q&A. Operator, please go ahead.

Operator

Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one one. If your question has been answered and you'd like to remove yourself from the queue, please press star one one again. Our first question comes from Mike Grondahl with Northland. Your line is open.

Mike Grondahl
Mike Grondahl
Analyst at Northland Securities

Hey, thanks, guys. Ben, maybe specifically on Sherbrooke, you'd kind of talked about hyperscaler customers, neoclouds, and large enterprises. Can you talk a little bit about the pros and cons or the terms from each category and what metrics you're going to use to decide on a lease?

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

Thanks, Mike, it's a great question. When you're looking at all the different available potential tenants for these sites, there's obviously going to be pros and cons across the various categories. I think broadly speaking, you know, what you see from a hyperscaler client is probably, you know, a little bit tighter on the economics. That's largely offset by the quality of the credit and the confidence in the long-term contract there. Neoclouds are generally paying a bit of a higher price. They also come with a higher cost to capital. There's a balancing act.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

For us, really, it's about finding the right balancing act between the counterparty, the economics of the contract, and the cost to capital, but not specifically trying to get a hyperscaler over a neocloud, but really trying to optimize across those three variables.

Mike Grondahl
Mike Grondahl
Analyst at Northland Securities

Any sense where you're leaning today?

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

I don't wanna get into, you know, exactly where we're gonna go, but on the slides, what we did indicate for each site was the potential, kind of tenant profiles. That should give you an indication of, kind of where we're leaning for each site because most of the site's scale is determining the kind of customer demand that we're receiving.

Mike Grondahl
Mike Grondahl
Analyst at Northland Securities

Got it. Then just lastly, how has demand changed over the last 90 days?

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

I don't think it has changed, Mike. It's still present. It's still incredibly strong. There is some emerging, you know, questions around kind of global investments in HPC and AI versus the U.S., given what's happened in the Middle East and given the geopolitical uncertainty of investing everywhere else. I don't think we've seen a real change in demand. It's more or less a reinforcement of what was already there before the conflict, a preference to invest in the United States. Now we're seeing, you know, just a much stronger reinforcement of that. I think demand is as strong as it was, you know, 90 days ago or 120 days ago.

Mike Grondahl
Mike Grondahl
Analyst at Northland Securities

Fair. Okay. Thank you.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

Thanks, Mike.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Brett Knoblauch with Cantor Fitzgerald. Your line is open.

Brett Knoblauch
Brett Knoblauch
Analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald

Hi, guys. Thank you for taking my question. On Panther Creek, which seems to kind of be, like, the largest initial site for you guys or the flagship site. I didn't know the slide that says we're kind of waiting on, you know, environmental and land. Could you maybe just help with a timeline on that? You know, is that still a 3Q, you know, event? Could it happen sooner? Is that absolutely necessary, call it, to happen pre-lease execution?

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

It's great questions, Brett. You know, we're still tracking on the exact same timeline that we indicated on the last Q4 call a couple of weeks ago, which is kind of a mid-late summer timeframe. This is what we're lining up for right now. You know, what we, you know, wanna make clear in terms of the process is lease negotiations and permitting are as a parallel process. It's not as if you need those in hand to begin a successful lease negotiation, but you have to be able to show a very confident and credible pathway, with a high confidence that you'll achieve it on the timelines you're gonna achieve it to be successful in those lease negotiations.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

We achieved that earlier this year, which is why we've been active in the commercialization strategy across all 3 of those different sites. We shouldn't expect that, you know, the timing of the permits is going to have, you know, a slowdown in terms of the lease execution. Those are simultaneous, and we would be looking to complete the permits before executing the final lease. The negotiation and the permit applications continue in parallel.

Brett Knoblauch
Brett Knoblauch
Analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald

Awesome. Maybe just as a follow-up, you know, I think what we're hearing across most of the space is that kind of capacity for 2026 is sold out, anything with an ARPA state in 2027 should be relatively attractive. Then you guys are also designing, at least sharing for Vera Rubin. Are you seeing any, you know, change in conversation given it's a Vera Rubin kind of design, relative to maybe other sites that might be maybe Blackwell? I'm just curious if you're seeing, like, an uptick in demand for what would be a Vera Rubin site.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

The Vera Rubin technology is very different than Blackwell. The engineering requirements are a magnitude of order more complex and sophisticated than Blackwell. The conversations are relatively different. I think in terms of Blackwell, nobody's actually received their first allotment. Or sorry, in terms of Vera Rubin, nobody's actually received their first deliveries of Vera Rubin. You know, the conversation with Vera Rubin is much more about planning for the future and are trying to accommodate for the equipment that is really just kind of coming off the first lines of the production run right now. Whereas Blackwell is more of a known technology and a known engineering standpoint. I would say from a demand perspective, we see more demand for Vera Rubin with our timelines of 2027.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

The biggest difference in the conversation is really just the changing in real-time engineering requirements from NVIDIA for the Vera Rubin technology stack because this is just starting to emerge in the market now.

Brett Knoblauch
Brett Knoblauch
Analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald

Awesome. Thank you, Ben.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

Thanks, Brett.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Bill Papanastasiou with Chardan Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Bill Papanastasiou
Bill Papanastasiou
Analyst at Chardan Capital Markets

Yeah, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Previously, I believe management mentioned the timelines for clearing permitting would be mid to late summer. Not sure if this was mentioned on the call, how is that trending? Has that timeline shifted at all now that you have zoning at all three sites?

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

Hey, Bill. Thanks for the question. Yeah, we mentioned that on the Q4 call. Since we've had the Q4 call, we've cleared out on a few more permits, including zoning and preliminary land development at Sharon. Everything is tracking according to our plan. We still have high confidence on a mid to late summer timeframe across those 3 sites. You know, to permitting, obviously things can go a little bit faster or a little bit slower, we've got high confidence on those timelines.

Bill Papanastasiou
Bill Papanastasiou
Analyst at Chardan Capital Markets

Thanks. Can you just speak to your Bitcoin mining operations, where steady state today, I believe in Q4 was around 14 exahash? How should we think about that throughout the remainder of the year? Thanks.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

Yeah, it's still around 14 exahash. It should continue to trickle downward over time. Right now, the Washington site is being decommissioned. That's our first U.S. site where we've actively decommissioned Bitcoin mining. Before, it was all coming out of Latin America. As we break ground and work on development across Panther Creek and Sharon, we will also be decommissioning Bitcoin mining at those sites. We're gonna try and line up the Bitcoin mining decommissioning as best as possible with the construction schedule and mining economics so that we can try and optimize and maximize the capture of the value and the cash flows there. We'll continue to provide an update to the market as we move forward throughout the year, Bill.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

You should expect it to trickle down from 14 to probably somewhere around, I would think, 5 exahash around the end of the year.

Bill Papanastasiou
Bill Papanastasiou
Analyst at Chardan Capital Markets

Perfect. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Michael Donovan with Compass Point. Your line is open.

Michael Donovan
Michael Donovan
Analyst at Compass Point

Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. On Moses Lake, the slide deck states there is a secured option to acquire neighboring property with additional capacity. Can you size the potential expansion opportunity beyond the current 18 MW? What needs to happen for that option to move forward?

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

We have a secured option for an additional 10 MW in the area. Nothing really needs to happen other than our desire to exercise the option. The power is there, it's secure, the land is there, the due diligence is done. Really, it's just about us wanting to exercise the option. When you go out and you do market for these sites, one of the strategic features to have in these conversations is not only to have secured power today, but to have the ability to expand that infrastructure and expand that capacity over time. Securing the option, you know, as of right now is this great marketing benefit for us when we're going through the commercialization strategy that gives us and the customers a potential to continue to scale up in that, in that region.

Michael Donovan
Michael Donovan
Analyst at Compass Point

Thanks, Ben. Also on question, can you unpack the scope of the May 3rd purchase commitment and clarify whether all major long lead equipment has been acquired?

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

We've secured basically everything that we need to do for the site with regards to the modular infrastructure from Vertiv, the transformers and the backup gens. Last thing that we really needed was the backup gens, which is the last thing that we had secured. Moses Lake is, it's got all of its equipment that it needs for its development. There's a few odds and ends, but all of the key critical pieces have been secured.

Michael Donovan
Michael Donovan
Analyst at Compass Point

Appreciate that, and congrats on progress.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Martin Toner with ATB Cormark. Your line is open.

Martin Toner
Martin Toner
Analyst at ATB Cormark

Great question. Congrats on all your progress. SG&A ticked up this quarter. Can you maybe talk to what we can expect for the rest of the year and just in general, maybe, you know?

Jonathan Mir
Jonathan Mir
CFO at Keel Infrastructure

Good morning, Martin. It's Jonathan. How are you? Could you repeat the back half of your question? I did hear you ask about expectations for SG&A for the remainder of the year and missed a bit at the end.

Martin Toner
Martin Toner
Analyst at ATB Cormark

Yeah, just talk a little bit about what investment that increase in SG&A represents.

Jonathan Mir
Jonathan Mir
CFO at Keel Infrastructure

Thank you. That's very clear. We'd expect our run rate cash SG&A to run about $25 million a quarter for $100 million a year, plus or minus. At the SG&A level, we've got a number of offsetting factors related on the one hand to the wind down of elements of the Bitcoin business, and then on the other hand, adding specialized expertise in respect of the HPC AI data center build-out.

Martin Toner
Martin Toner
Analyst at ATB Cormark

Perfect. Can you talk a little bit about capacity at the site?

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

It was a little hard to hear that, Martin, but I believe the question was just an update on Quebec site and Sherbrooke. Is that correct?

Martin Toner
Martin Toner
Analyst at ATB Cormark

Yes, please.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

We continue to make good progress with our 96 MW campus in Sherbrooke. We're hoping to have an update on today's call, but we should have an update on the Q2 call, which would include, you know, our plans for consolidating our 3 Bitcoin mining sites in Sherbrooke, our 48 MW Bunker site, as well as our 30 and our 18 MW sites, Leger and Garlock. To a single 96 MW site in the same town. We're continuing to progress those conversations with the City of Sherbrooke and Hydro-Sherbrooke. We have high confidence that we're going to be able to get all of those, you know, I's dotted and T's crossed to wrap this up and to be able to provide our plans to the public.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

We're getting quite excited about our plans in Sherbrooke. We think that it represents one of the few permitted HPC AI campuses in Quebec that will be under construction in the near term.

Martin Toner
Martin Toner
Analyst at ATB Cormark

Great. Thank you very much. That's all for me.

Operator

Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one one. Our next questions come from Brian Dobson with Clear Street. Your line is open.

Brian Dobson
Analyst at Clear Street

Thanks very much. Good morning. Thanks for the positive commentary on the demand environment. Do you think you could maybe give us a little bit of color on what you see as the biggest gating factors for your growth over the next few years, and if there are any, you know, long lead time obstacles that you're trying to overcome?

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

I think the biggest gating factor, Brian, is just bandwidth, to be honest with you. We've built a great team. We're continuing to build a great team, but we have 2 GW worth of development pipeline to execute against. There's a tremendous amount of technical details and complexity associated with these projects. We've done a great job in terms of increasing our bandwidth with adding more people, selling off non-core assets, you know, completing these structural things, which really help to simplify the business and the administration of the business, like re-doming off to the U.S. and completing our pivot out of Canada and LATAM. All of that stuff is adding into that.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

We've also had a lot of success with, you know, early integrations of AI into people's workflows and to people's work streams, which is helping productivity as well. I think that's probably just the biggest constraint is bandwidth. You know, that's something that we're continuing to improve upon as we continue to add people to the team, continue to add great partners like Turner Construction and Corgan on A&E and all these other different areas. I think we've got a very good pathway to address those and to execute across all of our different campuses.

Brian Dobson
Analyst at Clear Street

Great. Thanks for the color.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

Thanks, Brian.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Mike Colonnese with H.C. Wainwright & Co. Your line is open.

Mike Colonnese
Mike Colonnese
Analyst at H.C. Wainwright

Hi. Good morning, Ben and team. Thank you for taking my question. Just one for me today. If you could just talk about the pricing dynamics that you're seeing from negotiations with prospective tenants here. Is it fair to assume that Keel could secure better economics on a lease than what we've seen in the marketplace recently, specifically given the location of your sites in PJM and Washington, then paired with your data center design, which sounds like it's aiming to support the Vera Rubin deployments?

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

Thanks, Mike. It's one of the questions that we're paying very, very close attention to. It's one of the things that we've been talking about for some time now, that we believe that the economics are continuing to improve as the scarcity continues to get worse and demand continues to accelerate. I don't wanna get locked in on any sort of fixed numbers with lease economics. I think the broad trend is quite clear. I don't think it's changed or slowed down at all. You know, the market demand for this growth is very, very high. We're seeing hyperscalers reconfirm their commitments, in some case increase their commitments, in some cases, you know, making pretty loud statements on quarterly calls around the opportunity cost of the missed revenue for not having that compute in place.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

You know, we do think that this is probably going to be a trend that continues to play out for years to come. We look forward to, you know, taking advantage of our energy position in an increasingly energy-constrained market.

Mike Colonnese
Mike Colonnese
Analyst at H.C. Wainwright

Very helpful, Ben. If I could just squeeze one more in, actually. On the CapEx side, as you've gotten further along in your basis of design, with your various campuses, has your capital requirements or CapEx deployment needs changed at all since your initial framework, when it comes to deploying these data centers?

Jonathan Mir
Jonathan Mir
CFO at Keel Infrastructure

Hi, it's Jonathan. Generally speaking, no. Our views on CapEx deployment have not changed since our initial framework. We're comfortable with our current plans, and people always ask about guidance on this topic, and we'd say the figures generally used as rule of thumb throughout the industry should be fine as a practical matter.

Mike Colonnese
Mike Colonnese
Analyst at H.C. Wainwright

Great. Thanks, guys.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

Thanks, Mike.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Nick Giles with B. Riley Securities. Your line is open.

Nick Giles
Nick Giles
Analyst at B. Riley Securities

Thanks, operator. Good morning, guys.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

Good morning.

Nick Giles
Nick Giles
Analyst at B. Riley Securities

Much of today's discussion has centered on your first 3 sites. I wanted to ask about Scrubgrass. Can you just give us a sense for progress there specifically? What do you see as the key milestones for that site over the, you know, next 6-12 months?

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

Thanks, Nick, and I appreciate your enthusiasm for Scrubgrass, which is an enthusiasm that I share. You know, I find Scrubgrass to be a really exciting project for us. It's likely going to be the crown jewel of the company in the coming years, but there's still a lot of work for us to execute against before it can achieve that kind of status. The reality is that this is gonna be one of the largest data center campuses in Pennsylvania. But we've got to get power secured from a couple of different angles. And it's just gonna take some more time to do that. You know, on the grid connection side, the detailed load study is continuing forward.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

We should expect to have, you know, a indication as to what the results of that are sometime around, you know, the very end of the year in Q4. We're working on securing the energy pipeline lateral construction and the energy contracts as well as the agreements with either an IPP or, you know, a similar firm to come out and deploy nat gas turbines on site, even evaluating options for us to do it ourselves. It's a little too early to really say exactly what's gonna happen or when it's gonna happen, but we do share your enthusiasm for that site and its potential. We do think it's gonna be one of the more transformative value creation opportunities for the business and for shareholders.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

It is one of our big focuses for the company and for management this year, is to secure the megawatts at Scrubgrass and pull them out of that expansion bucket into the secure, secured bucket. That would more than double our secured capacity by doing so, and would give us a real powerful giga-campus in Pennsylvania. If I could just build on that for one, you know, brief moment. What we've seen in the market is that the giga-campuses are fiercely contested. Especially if you have a giga-campus outside of Texas, which are increasingly rare. Those sites have a more competitive, tension-filled process when they're going through the commercialization stage. We would look forward to taking full advantage of that in a capacity-constrained market.

Nick Giles
Nick Giles
Analyst at B. Riley Securities

Thanks for that detail, Ben. That's super helpful. Just to clarify, how much power does the detailed load study cover?

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

The detailed load study is for 750 MW.

Nick Giles
Nick Giles
Analyst at B. Riley Securities

Got it. Great. Thanks for all the color today. Continue. Best of luck.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

Thank you, Nick.

Operator

Thank you. I'm showing no further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the call over to Ben Gagnon, CEO, for closing remarks.

Ben Gagnon
Ben Gagnon
Director and CEO at Keel Infrastructure

Thank you everyone for attending our Q1 call. At this time, we'll go ahead and end the call, but we'll continue to provide updates for you on our website and through the normal investor channels. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.

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