Phoenix Group is pushing deeper into the global Bitcoin mining race with a new capacity expansion in Ethiopia. In a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine on April 29, 2025, the company said it had added 52 megawatts of Bitcoin mining capacity in the country, bringing its total Ethiopian footprint to 132 megawatts. As a result, Phoenix Group now operates more than 500 megawatts globally, a scale that reinforces its position among the world’s top ten Bitcoin mining companies.
This move builds on an earlier 80-megawatt power purchase agreement that marked Phoenix Group’s entry into the Ethiopian market. Rather than treating that initial deal as a standalone opportunity, the company is clearly turning Ethiopia into a strategic hub inside its broader energy and infrastructure portfolio. In the Bitcoin mining business, long-term competitiveness often depends on securing stable, low-cost electricity in locations that still offer room for future expansion. Phoenix Group’s latest announcement suggests that Ethiopia fits that profile.
How the new Ethiopian mining site will be deployed
According to the company, the new site will be built in two phases. Phase 1 will bring 20 megawatts online and use 5,300 high-efficiency air-cooled mining units. That first stage is expected to deliver 1.2 exahashes per second (EH/s) of computing power. In mining, hash rate is one of the clearest indicators of production capability, because it reflects how much computational work a facility can perform in the competition to validate Bitcoin blocks.
Phase 2 is expected to be completed by the end of Q2 2025. It will add another 32 megawatts and shift to hydro-cooling technology. Once that second phase is complete, the total hash rate of the site is expected to double to 2.4 EH/s. The contrast between air-cooled deployment in the first stage and hydro-cooling in the second stage is notable, because it shows a deliberate balance between rapid initial activation and more advanced long-term efficiency planning.
A two-step rollout like this can offer practical advantages. A mining company can begin generating output and revenue with the first stage while refining operations, infrastructure, and site-level performance. The second stage can then be layered in with a more advanced cooling architecture once the initial deployment is stable. For large mining operators, that kind of phased execution can reduce operational risk while preserving growth momentum.
Why crossing 500 megawatts matters
One of the biggest takeaways from the announcement is that Phoenix Group’s global operating capacity has now moved beyond 500 megawatts. In Bitcoin mining, that is not just a symbolic milestone. It signals that the company has reached a level where it can compete as a major international infrastructure operator rather than as a regional mining business. Scale at this level can improve purchasing power, support geographic diversification, and create flexibility in how a firm allocates capital and hardware across markets.
Munaf Ali, CEO and Co-Founder of Phoenix Group, said the company’s rapid rise among the top ten global Bitcoin miners reflects strategic foresight in securing prime locations with abundant and low-cost energy, along with operational excellence driven by vertical integration and advanced technology. He also said the company sees immense room for future growth and plans to continue expanding aggressively across key global energy markets.
That statement is important because it outlines Phoenix Group’s operating philosophy. The company is not presenting mining growth as a simple matter of adding more machines. Instead, it is emphasizing location strategy, power procurement, infrastructure control, and technology integration. In practice, vertical integration can mean tighter coordination across site development, energy sourcing, equipment deployment, cooling systems, and day-to-day operations. Those factors can shape uptime, cost efficiency, and the speed at which a miner can scale.
Renewable hydropower is central to the Ethiopia strategy
Another major feature of the announcement is the energy mix behind the Ethiopian operation. According to the release, more than 90% of the electricity powering Phoenix’s mining activities in Ethiopia comes from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. That dam is one of Africa’s largest renewable hydropower sources, making it a significant competitive asset for any energy-intensive digital infrastructure business operating in the region.
In the broader Bitcoin mining industry, energy sourcing remains a critical issue. Mining companies are often evaluated not only on scale and hash rate, but also on the environmental profile of the electricity they consume. Access to renewable hydropower can help lower long-term energy costs, reduce emissions intensity, and strengthen a company’s position with investors, regulators, and partners. Phoenix Group’s Ethiopian project is therefore being framed as one of the world’s most sustainable large-scale Bitcoin mining operations.
Reza Nedjatian, CEO of Phoenix Mining, AI & Data Centers, said that with 132 megawatts of clean hydropower now operational in Ethiopia, the company is proud to set a new standard for green mining in Africa. That remark suggests Phoenix Group wants the project to represent more than a local expansion. It also wants it to serve as a benchmark for how African energy infrastructure can support large-scale Bitcoin mining with a cleaner power profile.
What this says about the direction of the mining industry
Phoenix Group’s expansion in Ethiopia reflects several broader trends in the Bitcoin mining sector. First, access to cheap and abundant energy remains the foundation of mining economics. Second, geographic diversification is becoming more important as major operators seek to spread political, regulatory, and market risks across multiple jurisdictions. Third, cooling technology is evolving from a technical detail into a strategic lever, especially as miners try to run more efficient, denser, and more resilient facilities.
Ethiopia is increasingly attracting attention because it combines renewable energy potential with room for infrastructure growth. For a mining company, a market becomes strategically valuable when it offers scalable electricity, relatively low power costs, and a supportive pathway for industrial deployment. Phoenix Group’s sequence of moves—first the 80-megawatt power purchase agreement, then the additional 52 megawatts that lifted its local total to 132 megawatts—shows that the company sees the country as an important part of its long-term map.
Overall, the announcement sends three clear signals. Phoenix Group is scaling as a global mining infrastructure player, not merely a local operator. It is combining high-efficiency mining hardware with more advanced cooling methods to improve output and site performance. And it is making renewable hydropower a central part of its growth story. For anyone tracking Bitcoin infrastructure, this expansion stands out as a useful case study in how large miners are pursuing scale, efficiency, and sustainability at the same time.