The largest U.S. aluminum producer Alcoa is set to sell its Massena East smelter in upstate New York to bitcoin firm New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG) as it offloads dormant assets and taps demand for energy-ready industrial sites.
Company CEO Bill Oplinger said the company is in advanced talks and expects the deal to close “by the middle of this year,” Bloomberg reports.
The site, located along the St. Lawrence River, has been idle since 2014, when Alcoa closed it due to high operating costs and global competition.
The appeal lies in the power of the site, not the metal itself. Aluminum smelters are designed to operate 24 hours a day, consuming large amounts of electricity via substations and dedicated transmission lines. When they close, this infrastructure remains.
For Bitcoin miners and data center developers, this can shave years off the time needed to secure network access.
Massena East also has access to hydroelectricity from the New York Power Authority, a draw for businesses seeking low-cost, carbon-free energy.
The deal reflects a broader shift. Earlier this year, Century Aluminum sold a Kentucky smelter to TeraWulf (WULF), which plans to build a digital infrastructure campus supporting high-performance computing and AI.
