A Balanced Ownership Structure to Address French Regulatory Concerns To secure approval from French authorities—particularly given national security and sovereignty issues related to energy and digital infrastructure—MARA structured the deal through its subsidiary MARA France. A strategic partnership was formed with NJJ Capital, the investment fund led by entrepreneur Xavier Niel (founder of Iliad/Free). NJJ acquired a 10% stake in MARA France, reinforcing the project’s “French” and European character. EDF, through its venture arm EDF Pulse Ventures, remains a minority shareholder and continues as a key client of Exaion. The Exaion board now includes:
Three representatives from MARA Holdings, Three from EDF Pulse Ventures, One from NJJ Capital, The CEO and co-founder of Exaion.
This balanced governance reflects France’s strict requirements for protecting national interests in strategic sectors like data centers and AI. Exaion: An Already Operational Platform Serving AI Needs Exaion currently operates four data centers in France and Canada, spanning certifications from Tier I to Tier IV. The company specializes in:
High-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure, Secure enterprise cloud services, AI inference (running models in production), Strong technology partnerships, including with NVIDIA, Deloitte, and 2CRSI.
By acquiring Exaion, MARA gains a mature, ready-to-use platform with existing enterprise and potentially sovereign clients—allowing much faster entry into the European AI market than building from scratch. A Strategic Shift for MARA: From Bitcoin to European AI Fred Thiel, CEO and Chairman of MARA, stated that this deal underscores the company’s long-term commitment to Europe. MARA established its European headquarters in Paris in August 2025. The goal: develop private and sovereign AI infrastructure, leveraging EDF’s energy expertise and France’s ecosystem. This diversification aligns with broader moves, including a joint venture with Starwood Digital Ventures targeting over 1 GW of initial AI/HPC data center capacity, as well as other acquisitions like a 42 MW site in Nebraska. For investors, the pivot toward AI and HPC is seen as a hedge against Bitcoin mining volatility, capitalizing on exploding demand for compute power in AI training and inference. Outlook and Upcoming Challenges With Exaion, MARA positions itself as a bridge between Europe’s low-carbon energy and the massive compute needs of AI. The challenge now is turning this acquisition into profitable growth amid fierce competition (Nebius, Core Scientific, etc.), the capital-intensive nature of AI data centers, and the need to attract European clients sensitive to data sovereignty. One thing is clear: February 20, 2026, marks a landmark date in MARA’s transformation—from a pure-play Bitcoin miner to a critical infrastructure operator for artificial intelligence in Europe. Sources: Official press releases from MARA Holdings and EDF Pulse Ventures (February 20, 2026), CoinDesk, Bloomberg, The Block, Seeking Alpha.