Canaan Inc. just landed a competitive bid to deploy roughly 8 MW of Bitcoin mining hardware that doubles as a heating system for Nordic homes.

The project, announced on May 19, will integrate Canaan’s Avalon A1566HA series hydro-cooled mining units into an existing district heating network operated by a leading Nordic provider. The units capture waste heat from Bitcoin mining and convert it into hot water at approximately 80°C, which then flows directly into the pipes that already warm local buildings.

From pilot to scale in months

This isn’t Canaan’s first attempt at hash-to-heat. The 8 MW deployment builds on an earlier operational phase of 2 MW, which involved 228 units already supplying heat to local residents.

A follow-on order placed in March added 6 MW through an additional 692 units. The total installation is expected to reach around 920 units, serving approximately 2,800 homes across the district network.

Canaan CEO Nangeng Zhang highlighted the company’s focus on thermal performance within what he described as advanced energy-integrated compute infrastructure.

Why the Nordics are the perfect testing ground

Canaan has also been exploring heat recovery in other climates. In January, the company announced a separate 3 MW greenhouse heat-recovery pilot in Manitoba, Canada.

What this means for investors

Here’s the thing about Canaan’s stock reaction: shares fell roughly 7% after the announcement.

Canaan’s core business remains selling mining hardware, and the broader ASIC market has been brutally competitive. Bitmain and MicroBT dominate global market share, and Canaan has struggled to maintain margins. An 8 MW heat deployment, while meaningful as a proof of concept, represents a relatively small revenue stream compared to the company’s hardware sales business.