MARA and Starwood Form Strategic Partnership to Develop 2.5 GW AI Infrastructure Platform

MARA Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: MARA) announced a strategic agreement with Starwood Capital Group and its data center platform, Starwood Digital Ventures (SDV), on February 26, 2026. The partnership aims to convert and expand specific MARA sites into digital infrastructure designed for hyperscale, enterprise, and AI customers.

Infrastructure and Capacity Targets

The joint venture plans to deliver approximately 1 gigawatt (GW) of near-term IT capacity, with a projected pathway to exceed 2.5 GW. Under the terms of the agreement:

MARA will provide energy-advanced data center sites.

SDV will manage design, development, tenant sourcing, construction, and facility operations.

Starwood Capital will provide investment expertise to support project-level economics.

Operational Strategy

A primary feature of the partnership is the ability to operate both Bitcoin mining and AI compute within the same campuses. This dual-capability is intended to allow MARA to shift workloads in response to market pricing and customer demand.

"Our partnership with Starwood will allow us to turn that power certainty into capacity certainty," stated Fred Thiel, MARA’s Chairman and CEO. The companies believe this model will bring digital infrastructure to market more quickly than traditional development paths.

Investment and Market Context

Starwood Capital currently manages more than $125 billion in assets and maintains a 94-person team dedicated to digital infrastructure through SDV. This partnership follows a broader industry trend of digital asset firms leveraging energy infrastructure for high-performance computing applications.

MARA is scheduled to discuss its full fiscal year 2025 financial results today at 5:00 p.m. ET.