Empery Digital, a Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin treasury management firm, has entered into a partnership with an affiliate of Hunt Properties to develop a 150MW AI data center in the US Midwest, marking a strategic pivot from its digital asset focus into high-performance computing infrastructure. The deal underscores the growing demand for AI-ready data center capacity and the willingness of non-traditional investors to enter the sector.
The company is investing $65 million to acquire a 25 percent stake in a private acquisition entity formed to purchase and convert an existing industrial site into an AI data center. The site, which has operated as a power-intensive industrial facility for the past three years, comes with an owned substation and related infrastructure. Under an existing utility agreement, the property has around 150MW of available power capacity, and a recent load study indicated potential expansion to approximately 300MW to support AI workloads.
According to an SEC filing, the partnership has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100 percent of the equity interests from the current property holder for roughly $230 million. The transaction is subject to due diligence and other closing conditions, with the review period currently expected to end on July 29, 2026, unless extended. Empery stated that it anticipates closing in the third quarter of 2026, though it cautioned that there is no guarantee the deal will be completed.
The investment is structured through EMHU, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company. TexStack Infrastructure, a subsidiary of Cardinal Power and an affiliate of Hunt Properties, holds 75 percent of the common units and serves as the managing member. Empery, via its Volcon Epowersports subsidiary, holds the remaining 25 percent. Empery has already contributed $2.9 million and committed an additional $62.1 million at closing, while Cardinal Power has contributed $2.5 million and is expected to make an in-kind contribution valued at $192.5 million.
The Hunt affiliate has also signed a non-binding letter of intent for a triple-net lease with a leading compute provider, which would in turn serve a global AI hardware company. Empery said the lease could generate up to $1 billion in net lease payments, with the potential to approximately double if the planned power upgrade is completed. Under the terms of the letter of intent, the prospective tenant would fund data center build-out costs, power usage, and operating expenses.
The deal represents a significant shift in Empery’s capital allocation strategy. The company, formerly known as Volcon, rebranded to Empery Digital in July 2025 as part of a pivot to a Bitcoin treasury strategy. It now says it still holds Bitcoin but does not currently plan to accumulate more and may sell Bitcoin to fund this project and similar future opportunities. This move highlights a broader trend of digital asset firms diversifying into physical infrastructure as AI compute demand surges.
Source: datacenterdynamics