Applied Digital Corp (APLD) 2022 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to Applied Blockchain's fiscal third-quarter 2022 conference call. My name is Doug, and I'll be your operator today.

早安，歡迎參加Applied Blockchain公司2022財年第三季財報電話會議。我是Doug，今天將擔任本次會議的接線生。

Before this call, Applied Blockchain issued a financial result for their fiscal third quarter ended February 28, 2022, in a press release. A copy of which will be furnished in a report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC and will be available in the Investor Relations section of the company's website.

在本次電話會議之前，Applied Blockchain公司發布了一份新聞稿，公佈了截至2022年2月28日的第三財季財務表現。新聞稿的副本將以8-K表格的形式提交給美國證券交易委員會（SEC），並可在公司網站的投資者關係欄位中查閱。

Joining you on today's call are Applied Blockchain's Chairman and CEO, Wes Cummins; and CFO, David Rench. Following their remarks, we will open the call for questions.

今天參加電話會議的有Applied Blockchain的董事長兼首席執行官韋斯·卡明斯（Wes Cummins）和首席財務官大衛·倫奇（David Rench）。他們致詞結束後，我們將開放問答環節。

Before we begin, Jeff Grampp from Gateway Group will make a brief introductory statement. Mr. Grampp, please proceed.

在會議開始之前，Gateway Group 的 Jeff Grampp 先生將會作簡短的介紹性演講。 Grampp 先生，請開始。

Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and welcome.

謝謝。大家早安，歡迎各位。

Before management begins their formal remarks, we need to remind everyone that some statements we're making today may be considered forward-looking statements under securities law and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. As a result, we caution you that there are a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control, which could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.

在管理階層正式發言之前，我們需要提醒各位，我們今天所作的一些陳述可能構成證券法意義上的前瞻性陳述，並涉及許多風險和不確定性。因此，我們提醒各位，有許多因素（其中許​​多因素超出我們的控制範圍）可能導致實際結果和事件與前瞻性陳述中描述的內容有重大差異。

For more detailed risks, uncertainties, and assumptions relating to our forward-looking statements, please see the disclosures in our earnings release and public filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We disclaim any obligation or undertaking to update forward-looking statements to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the date the forward-looking statements are made, except as required by law.

有關我們前瞻性陳述的更詳細風險、不確定性和假設，請參閱我們的獲利報告和向美國證券交易委員會提交的公開文件中揭露的資訊。除法律要求外，我們不承擔任何義務或責任更新前瞻性陳述以反映前瞻性陳述發布之日後發生的任何情況或事件。

We will also discuss non-GAAP financial metrics and encourage you to read our disclosures and the reconciliation tables to applicable GAAP measures in our earnings release carefully as you consider these metrics. We refer you to our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for detailed disclosures and descriptions of our business, as well as uncertainties and other variable circumstances including, but not limited to, risks and uncertainties identified under the caption Risk Factors in our IPO prospectus. You may get Applied Blockchain's Securities and Exchange Commission filings for free by visiting the SEC website at www.sec.gov.

我們還將討論非GAAP財務指標，並建議您在考慮這些指標時，仔細閱讀我們獲利報告中的揭露資訊以及與適用GAAP指標的調節表。有關我們業務的詳細揭露和描述，以及不確定性和其他可變因素（包括但不限於我們在IPO招股說明書「風險因素」標題下列出的風險和不確定性），請參閱我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件。您可以造訪美國證券交易委員會網站www.sec.gov免費取得Applied Blockchain提交的文件。

I would like to remind everyone that this call is being recorded and will be made available for replay via a link available in the Investor Relations section of Applied Blockchain's website.

我想提醒大家，本次電話會議正在錄音，錄音將透過Applied Blockchain網站投資者關係部分的連結提供回放。

Now, I would like to turn the call over to Applied Blockchain's Chairman and CEO, Wes Cummins. Sir, please proceed.

現在，我將把電話交給應用區塊鏈公司董事長兼執行長韋斯·卡明斯先生。先生，請開始。

Thanks, Jeff, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for our inaugural earnings call after completing our IPO last month. I'd like to welcome our new and existing shareholders as we're appreciative of your support.

謝謝傑夫，大家早安。感謝各位參加我們上個月完成IPO後的首次財報電話會議。我謹代表公司歡迎新舊股東，感謝你們的支持。

Since many of you are newer to our company, I thought it'd be beneficial to first start with an overview and history of our business. In early 2021, we began building a business focused on crypto assets, starting initially in Ethereum mining. We quickly got traction by partnering with brand names in the crypto industries such as Bitmain, SparkPool, and GMR to assist in the operation and development of our mining business.

鑑於各位對公司了解不多，我認為先概述一下我們的業務概況和發展歷程會很有幫助。 2021年初，我們開始專注於加密資產業務，最初從以太坊挖礦起步。我們很快就與比特大陸、星火礦池和GMR等加密產業知名企業建立了合作關係，以協助挖礦業務的營運和發展，並取得了顯著進展。

In the middle of 2021, we saw a massive opportunity in data center hosting business and refocused our business and resources on this opportunity. As some of you may recall, China had just instituted a permanent ban on cryptocurrency mining. At the time, China was the world's leader in cryptocurrency mining. And we saw an opportunity to establish Applied as a leading data center provider to the massive amount of mining capacity that we need to find new homes for low-cost reliable power.

2021年中期，我們看到了資料中心託管業務的巨大機遇，於是將業務和資源重新聚焦於此。正如大家可能記得的，當時中國剛剛永久禁止加密貨幣挖礦。而那時，中國是全球加密貨幣挖礦的領頭羊。我們看到了一個機會，可以將Applied打造為領先的資料中心供應商，滿足我們為低成本、高可靠性電力尋找新去處的海量挖礦算力需求。

Concurrent with this development, we also -- was also the significant increase in capital being raised by North American crypto miners, who would also need to find low-cost reliable power. We're now building Applied Blockchain to be a leading provider of next-gen data centers that are designed to provide massive computing power. With these next-gen data centers, we provide a colocation hosting business model where our customers place their hardware in our facilities, and we provide full operational and maintenance services for a fixed recurring fee.

同時，北美加密貨幣礦工籌集的資金也大幅增加，他們同樣需要找到低成本、可靠的電力供應。我們正致力於將Applied Blockchain打造成為下一代資料中心的領先供應商，這些資料中心旨在提供強大的運算能力。透過這些新一代資料中心，我們提供一種託管服務模式：客戶將硬體放置在我們的設施中，我們則以固定的週期性費用提供全面的營運和維護服務。

We currently have long-term contracts, mostly five years, with our customers. But we plan to have a mix of long-term contracts of three to five years with larger blue-chip counterparties and short-term contracts of 18 to 36 months for smaller customers at future facilities to maximize margin while maintaining stability.

我們目前與客戶簽訂的合約大多為五年長期合約。但未來，我們計劃在保持業務穩定性的同時，與大型藍籌客戶簽訂三至五年的長期合同，並與小型客戶簽訂18至36個月的短期合同，以實現利潤最大化。

We expect our hosting business model to provide secure long-term predictable recurring revenue and cash flow, given the contractual structures of both our revenue and costs. This unique model and structure will provide investors with differentiated exposure to the crypto industry, as our results are not directly correlated to the price of any cryptocurrency, yet we can participate in the expected massive growth of power demand required by these industry participants.

鑑於我們收入和成本的合約結構，我們預期我們的主機託管業務模式將提供安全、長期、可預測的經常性收入和現金流量。這種獨特的模式和結構將為投資者提供差異化的加密貨幣行業投資機會，因為我們的業績與任何加密貨幣的價格均無直接關聯，但我們卻能參與到這些行業參與者預期中巨大的電力需求增長中。

The next-generation data centers we're developing are optimized for large computing power and require more power than traditional data centers that are optimized for data retention and retrieval. Next-gen data centers have very different layouts, internet connection requirements, and cooling designs to accommodate different power demands and customer requirements. So we believe we've developed a core competency with our team that will be difficult to replicate, especially for traditional data center operators.

我們正在開發的下一代資料中心針對強大的運算能力進行了最佳化，因此比傳統資料中心（專注於資料儲存和檢索）需要更多的電力。新一代資料中心在佈局、網際網路連線要求和冷卻設計方面都與傳統資料中心截然不同，以滿足不同的電力需求和客戶要求。因此，我們相信我們的團隊已經培養出一種難以複製的核心競爭力，尤其對於傳統資料中心營運商而言。

We believe the traditional operators will be more challenged to move into our business since they cannot easily convert to next-gen data center facilities like ours. And they are generally geographically disadvantaged because they are usually found in high-cost areas with high-density populations.

我們認為，傳統營運商想要進入我們的業務領域將面臨更大的挑戰，因為他們難以像我們一樣輕鬆轉型為新一代資料中心設施。而且，他們通常在地理位置上處於劣勢，因為他們的資料中心通常位於人口密度高、成本高的地區。

Initially, our data centers will primarily host Bitcoin miners. But we also expect to host hardware for other applications, such as image processing, graphics rendering, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other Blockchain networks in the future. We also aim to provide white-glove service for our customers and see margin expansion opportunities over time by providing value-added services.

初期，我們的資料中心將主要用於託管比特幣礦機。但未來，我們也計劃託管用於其他應用的硬件，例如圖像處理、圖形渲染、人工智慧、機器學習以及其他區塊鏈網路。此外，我們致力於為客戶提供卓越的服務，並透過提供加值服務，逐步提升利潤率。

We also expect access to low-cost power to be one of the primary differentiators in our business, as power capacity availability for cryptocurrency mining at scalable sites over 100 megawatts of capacity is scarce. The scarcity allows us to realize attractive hosting rates, given our ability to provide long-term hosting contracts that can span up to five years. Since the crypto industry is still in its nascent stages, the talent pool is naturally not particularly deep.

我們預計，低成本電力供應將成為我們業務的主要差異化優勢之一，因為容量超過 100 兆瓦的可擴展加密貨幣挖礦站點的電力供應非常稀缺。這種稀缺性使我們能夠提供極具吸引力的託管價格，因為我們能夠提供長達五年的長期託管合約。由於加密貨幣產業仍處於起步階段，人才儲備自然也相對有限。

Fortunately, we have assembled a strong team of dedicated power infrastructure experts with proficiency in design, building, and operating next-gen data centers. I will put our team up against anyone in the industry.

幸運的是，我們組建了一支實力雄厚的電力基礎設施專家團隊，他們精通下一代資料中心的設計、建置和營運。我敢說，我們的團隊足以與業內任何團隊匹敵。

We believe another competitive advantage for our company is the strength of our partnerships. Bitmain, the leading Bitcoin mining manufacturer, and GMR both have invested in our company and our hosting customers. These partners also provide us with various additional resources including hardware access and data center design, and build out advisory services, operational expertise, and maintenance and repair training.

我們相信，公司另一項競爭優勢在於強大的合作關係。領先的比特幣礦機製造商比特大陸和GMR都對我們公司和我們的主機託管客戶進行了投資。這些合作夥伴也為我們提供各種額外資源，包括硬體存取和資料中心設計與建置諮詢服務、營運專業知識以及維護和維修培訓。

With this backdrop now said, I'm pleased to report that we have been quickly executing on our business goals. After pivoting the business to hosting in the middle of 2021, we purchased our first property in August of 2021 located in North Dakota, which we've referred to as our Jamestown site. We then began construction on our first cohosting facility here in September 2021 with a plant capacity of 100 megawatts.

鑑於以上背景，我很高興地報告，我們的業務目標進展迅速。 2021年中，我們將業務轉型為主機託管，並於2021年8月在北達科他州購置了第一處房產，我們稱之為詹姆斯敦基地。隨後，我們於2021年9月開始在此建造首個聯合託管設施，裝置容量為100兆瓦。

We signed an energy services agreement with a local utility to power this facility. And this agreement has provided us with visibility into our cost structure, as we have stable energy costs. Five-year hosting agreements prefilled 100 megawatts of plant capacity before groundbreaking, and we found quick validation in our business model. The first 55 megawatts at Jamestown began to come online in early February, with the remaining brought online over the next few weeks. Today, we stand at just over 80 megawatts being operational.

我們與當地一家電力公司簽署了能源服務協議，為該設施供電。由於能源成本穩定，這份協議讓我們能夠清楚了解成本結構。在破土動工前，我們透過五年期的託管協議預租了100兆瓦的電廠容量，並迅速驗證了我們的商業模式。詹姆斯敦電廠的首批55兆瓦於2月初開始併網發電，其餘部分在接下來的幾週內陸續投入營運。目前，我們的營運裝置容量已超過80兆瓦。

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, in January of 2022, we and Antpool, an affiliate of Bitmain, entered into a joint venture to develop, operate, and own next-generation data centers with up to 1.5 gigawatts of capacity for hosting Blockchain infrastructure. The JV is owned 80% by Applied, while Antpool will directly own 20% of the assets within the JV in the near term. They have an option to convert that ownership into Applied common equity at a premium for our current share price.

最後，或許也是最重要的一點，2022年1月，我們與比特大陸旗下的螞蟻池（Antpool）成立了一家合資企業，共同開發、運營和擁有容量高達1.5吉瓦的下一代資料中心，用於託管區塊鏈基礎設施。該合資企業80%的股份由Applied持有，而螞蟻池將在短期內直接持有合資企業20%的資產。螞蟻池可以選擇以高於我們目前股價的價格將該部分股份轉換為Applied的普通股。

We believe having an affiliate of Bitmain aligned with our goals and having skin in the game is a tremendous asset for Applied. We look forward to working with them and leveraging their expertise to scale and grow our business.

我們相信，擁有一家與我們目標一致且利益相關的比特大陸關聯公司，對應用材料而言是一筆巨大的財富。我們期待與他們合作，並利用他們的專業知識來擴大和發展我們的業務。

Now I'll turn this over to CFO David Rench to walk you through our financials before providing my closing remarks. David?

現在我將把發言權交給財務長大衛·倫奇，讓他為大家介紹一下我們的財務狀況，然後再作總結發言。大衛？

Thank you, Wes, and good morning, everyone.

謝謝你，韋斯，大家早安。

My comments will be relatively brief as our fiscal third-quarter results, which ended February 28, 2022, reflect only modest contribution from our Jamestown facility that began ramping up operations towards the end of the quarter. We also did not have operations in the year-ago comparable period. So we'll not be providing any year-over-year comparisons.

由於我們位於詹姆斯敦的工廠在截至2022年2月28日的第三財季業績僅貢獻了有限的利潤（該工廠在季度末才開始逐步恢復運營），因此我的評論將較為簡短。此外，去年同期我們也沒有運營，所以我們不會提供任何同比數據。

Revenues in the fiscal third quarter were $1 million attributable entirely to our hosting operations. Hosting revenue excludes (sic - see press release, "includes") upfront payments, which are recorded as deferred revenue. All of our revenues during the quarter were generated from our Jamestown, North Dakota, facility. It is important to keep in mind that Jamestown started operations in February, thereby contributing to revenue for less than a full month during the quarter.

第三財季的營收為100萬美元，全部來自我們的主機代管業務。主機代管收入不包括（原文如此，請參閱新聞稿，「包括」）預付款，這些預付款計入遞延收入。本季所有收入均來自我們位於北達科他州詹姆斯敦的設施。需要注意的是，詹姆斯敦設施於2月份開始運營，因此在本季度貢獻收入的時間不到一個月。

Cost of revenue in the fiscal third quarter were $2.1 million, consisting primarily of electricity costs, including costs for Jamestown prior to the facility becoming operational. Other costs include personnel costs for employees directly working at the hosting facility and depreciation expense for the equipment and service of the hosting facility.

第三財季的收入成本為210萬美元，主要包括電力成本，其中也包括詹姆斯敦設施投入營運前的相關費用。其他成本包括直接在設施內工作的員工的人員成本，以及設施設備和服務的折舊費用。

Total operating expenses for the fiscal third quarter were $1.4 million, almost all of which were attributable to selling, general and administrative costs.

第三財季的總營運支出為 140 萬美元，幾乎全部用於銷售、一般及行政費用。

Adjusted net loss from continuing operations for the fiscal third quarter was a loss of $2 million or a loss of $0.04 per diluted share, based on a weighted average fully diluted share count during the quarter of 53.4 million.

根據本季加權平均完全稀釋股份數 5,340 萬股計算，第三財季持續經營業務的調整後淨虧損為 200 萬美元，即每股攤薄虧損 0.04 美元。

We incurred a $4 million loss on discontinued operations in the fiscal third quarter. We realized $1.6 million in proceeds from the sale of equipment and expect to recognize a loss of $2.9 million on the sale. We classified our legacy Ethereum mining business as discontinued operations as we began selling our equipment. On March 9, 2022, we seized all crypto mining operations and completed the sale of all crypto mining equipment in service.

在第三財季，我們因終止經營業務而蒙受 400 萬美元的損失。我們透過出售設備實現了 160 萬美元的收益，預計將確認 290 萬美元的出售損失。自從我們開始出售設備以來，我們將原有的以太坊挖礦業務歸類為已終止經營業務。 2022 年 3 月 9 日，我們停止了所有加密貨幣挖礦業務，並完成了所有在役加密貨幣挖礦設備的出售。

Net loss for the first quarter was $6.4 million or a loss of $0.12 per diluted share based on a weighted average fully diluted share count during the quarter of 53.4 million.

第一季淨虧損為 640 萬美元，以該季度加權平均完全稀釋股份數 5,340 萬股計算，每股虧損 0.12 美元。

Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP measure, for the fiscal third quarter was a loss of $1.7 million.

經調整的 EBITDA（非 GAAP 指標）在第三財季虧損 170 萬美元。

Lastly, on our balance sheet, we ended the fiscal third quarter 2022 with $12 million in cash and equivalents and no debt. Subsequent to the fiscal third quarter, we completed our IPO. We issued 8 million shares of common stock at $5 per share, generating net proceeds of approximately $36 million. Concurrent with this offering, we completed a one-for-six reverse stock split and uplisted our shares in Nasdaq stock exchange.

最後，就資產負債表而言，截至2022財年第三季末，我們持有現金及現金等價物1,200萬美元，且無任何債務。第三財季結束後，我們完成了首次公開發行（IPO）。我們以每股5美元的價格發行了800萬股普通股，淨募款約3,600萬美元。同時，我們完成了1比6的反向股票分割，並將股票在納斯達克證券交易所上市。

Reflecting these changes and the conversion of all our previously outstanding preferred stock into common stock, our current share count is now approximately 99.2 million.

考慮到這些變化以及我們之前所有流通在外的優先股轉換為普通股，我們目前的股份總數約為 9,920 萬股。

On March 11, 2022, we entered into a term loan agreement with Vantage Bank Texas for a $7.5 million five-year loan at 5% interest. Proceeds from the loan will be used to fund operations at Jamestown site.

2022年3月11日，我們與德州Vantage銀行簽訂了為期五年、利率5%的750萬美元定期貸款協議。貸款所得將用於資助詹姆斯敦基地的營運。

Now turning to our fiscal fourth-quarter guidance. We expect revenue in the range of $5.7 million to $6.2 million or $5.95 million as the midpoint. We expect to generate an adjusted EBITDA loss of $4 million to $4.6 million or $4.3 million midpoint. That completes my financial summary.

現在來看看我們第四財季的業績預期。我們預計營收在570萬美元至620萬美元之間，中間值為595萬美元。我們預計調整後EBITDA虧損為400萬美元至460萬美元，中間值為430萬美元。以上就是我的財務概要。

Now I turn the call over to Wes for closing remarks.

現在我把電話交給韋斯，請他做總結發言。

Thank you, David.

謝謝你，大衛。

I want to close our prepared remarks by covering our growth strategy and milestones to look out for over the remainder of calendar 2022 and beyond.

我想在結束我們準備好的發言時，介紹一下我們的成長策略以及在 2022 年剩餘時間和未來值得關注的里程碑。

We have broken ground on our next facility to be co-located with a wind farm in West Texas. This location will have a total of 200 megawatts when fully operational. We plan to break down on another Texas wind site in a few months, which will also be 200 megawatts when fully ramped. In addition to the Texas sites, we expect to be in construction on up to three other sites in three other states including North Dakota, with a total combined capacity of over 600 megawatts before the end of this calendar year.

我們已在西德州破土動工，興建一座與風電場毗鄰的新型設施。該設施全面投產後總裝置容量將達200兆瓦。我們計劃在幾個月後在德州開工建造另一座風電場，該風電場全面投產後裝置容量也將達到200兆瓦。除了德州的這些項目外，我們預計在今年年底前，還將在包括北達科他州在內的其他三個州開工建設至多三個風電場，總裝置容量將超過600兆瓦。

We've developed a robust pipeline of potential power sources, and our experience at our first facility has provided us a blueprint for repeatable strategy to significantly scale our operations. We plan to continue scaling our business further with the goal of being at 800 megawatts by May of 2023 to 1.8 gigawatts by May of 2024 and ultimately, 5 gigawatts over the next five years. We expect this to translate into our company generating $40 million of EBITDA in fiscal 2023, which ends in May, and exiting calendar 2023 at an over $200 million EBITDA run rate.

我們已建立起穩健的潛在能源儲備，首個專案的經驗為我們提供了可複製的策略藍圖，從而能夠顯著擴大營運規模。我們計劃繼續擴大業務規模，目標是到2023年5月達到800兆瓦，到2024年5月達到1.8吉瓦，並最終在未來五年內達到5吉瓦。我們預計這將使公司在截至5月的2023財年實現4,000萬美元的EBITDA，並在2023年底實現超過2億美元的EBITDA年化率。

As I mentioned previously, we see almost insatiable demand for hosting capacity for cryptocurrency miners, who lack reliable sources of low-cost power. Our internal estimate is that between 5,000 and 6,000 megawatts of hosting capacity needs to come online over the next 12 months to meet the publicly stated goal of the publicly traded mining companies in North America plus the private companies that we have close relationships with. In my opinion, hosting capacity is the bottleneck in the industry, and I think this is going to remain the case for the foreseeable future.

正如我之前提到的，加密貨幣礦工對託管容量的需求幾乎是無限的，而他們卻缺乏可靠的低成本電力來源。我們內部估計，未來12個月內需要新增5000至6000兆瓦的託管容量，才能滿足北美上市礦業公司以及與我們關係密切的私人公司所公開宣稱的目標。在我看來，託管容量是產業的瓶頸，而且我認為在可預見的未來，這種情況仍將持續。

Regarding our site selection criteria, you should expect us to focus on states that have low and stable power costs, with favorable laws and regulations for the crypto mining industry, while maintaining geographic diversity to reduce risks in a particular region. We also are conscious of our environmental footprint. So we'll be focused on power-generating assets with a higher portion of low-carbon renewables.

關於我們的選址標準，您可以預期我們會優先選擇電力成本低且穩定的州，這些州擁有有利於加密貨幣挖礦行業的法律法規，同時保持地理多樣性以降低特定區域的風險。我們也十分重視自身的環境影響。因此，我們將重點放在低碳再生能源佔比較高的發電資產。

We believe our next-generation data centers represent a unique power load. And our demand for renewable energy can increase and accelerate the build-out of renewable energy infrastructure.

我們相信，我們的下一代資料中心代表著獨特的電力負荷。而我們對再生能源的需求將會增加，並加速再生能源基礎設施的建設。

Lastly, as our co-hosting operations expand, we believe our business model will become conducive to a real estate investment trust or REIT structure. At scale, we expect to have steady and recurring high-margin cash flow streams with relatively low-maintenance CapEx needs that can provide a high-level of distributable cash flow, similar to several publicly traded traditional data center REITs. We're investigating converting to a REIT structure, which we believe may be more applicable as we transition from a consumer of capital to a positive free cash flow entity over the coming years.

最後，隨著我們聯合託管業務的擴展，我們相信我們的商業模式將更適合房地產投資信託基金（REIT）的結構。規模化後，我們預計將擁有穩定且持續的高利潤現金流，同時維護成本相對較低，從而能夠提供高水準的可分配現金流，類似於一些上市的傳統資料中心REIT。我們正在研究轉型為REIT結構的可能性，我們認為，隨著我們在未來幾年內從資本消耗者轉型為正自由現金流實體，這種結構可能更為適用。

We're now happy to take your questions. Operator?

現在我們很樂意回答您的問題。接線生？

(Operator Instructions) Lucas Pipes, B. Riley.

（操作說明）盧卡斯·派普斯，B.萊利。

Thank you very much, and good morning, everyone. And also, congratulations on the Nasdaq listing.

非常感謝，大家早安。另外，恭喜你們在納斯達克上市。

Wes, I wanted to try to peel the onion on 2023 a bit. You provided two very helpful data points -- fiscal 2023, EBITDA $40 million; and then, end of 2023, a calendar run rate of $200 million. I'd assume that the fiscal $40 million is backend weighted.

韋斯，我想稍微分析一下2023年的狀況。你提供了兩個非常有用的數據點——2023財年EBITDA為4000萬美元；以及2023年底的年度運行率為2億美元。我假設這4000萬美元是後端加權的。

So if I say that's -- the $40 million is generated in the first five months of the calendar year, that's about $8 million a month. And if I say that $200 million end of 2023 run rate is -- if I divide that by 12, that's $16 million, $17 million of monthly EBITDA. So if I average that out, gets about $12 million of monthly EBITDA, and then times 12, that's about $148 million calendar 2023 EBITDA.

所以，如果我說這4000萬美元是在今年前五個月產生的，那就是每月約800萬美元。如果我說2023年底的2億美元年化率——如果我把它除以12，那就是每月1600萬美元或1700萬美元的EBITDA。所以如果我取平均值，得到每月約1200萬美元的EBITDA，然後乘以12，那就是2023年全年約1.48億美元的EBITDA。

So I wondered if that's a reasonable way to go about it. We'd really much appreciate your color on calendar 2023 EBITDA just because, of course, investors look to compare valuations across this space. Thank you very much.

所以我想知道這種方法是否合理。我們非常希望您能對2023年的EBITDA做出預測，因為投資人當然會比較該領域的估值。非常感謝。

Yeah, thanks, Lucas. And thank you for the question. So the way that I think about and the way I think you should think about the ramp of our business and the EBITDA is the lower end -- if you think about per 100 megawatts, the lower end of the economics for EBITDA per 100 megawatts that we're targeting is about $18 million.

是的，謝謝，盧卡斯。也謝謝你的提問。關於我們業務的成長和 EBITDA，我的想法是，也是我認為你應該考慮的方式，是按照較低的水平來計算——如果你考慮每 100 兆瓦，我們目標的每 100 兆瓦 EBITDA 的較低水平約為 1800 萬美元。

And so per 100 megawatts, you should think about $1.5 million a month of EBITDA. And I walked through in the prepared remarks the $400 million that we're kicking -- 400 megawatts that we're kicking off. And those should be starting to come online in the fall and then get fully ramped, either at the end of this calendar year or early next calendar year.

因此，每100兆瓦，您應該考慮每月150萬美元的EBITDA。我在準備好的演講稿中詳細介紹了我們即將啟動的4億美元計畫——也就是400兆瓦的計畫。這些項目應該會在秋季開始陸續併網，然後在今年年底或明年年初全面投入生產。

And so I think the assumption you should get, as those coming online and so with those -- that 400 online, you're running at about $72 million a year of EBITDA. And then we continue to bring more online in the first half of that calendar year. And so for the calendar year of 2018, the way -- or I'm sorry, calendar year of 2023, we're thinking about -- we should be averaging a little around 800 megawatts for the full year.

因此，我認為你應該假設，隨著這些項目陸續併網，加上這400兆瓦的併網發電，每年大約能帶來7200萬美元的EBITDA。然後，我們會在當年上半年繼續增加併網發電量。所以，就2018年全年而言——或者更準確地說，是2023年全年——我們全年的平均發電量應該在800兆瓦左右。

And we can walk through individually, if you want to, how that stage or how we're thinking about where that comes online, what our schedule is. But I think the average for the full year ends up at around that 800 -- $18 million per 100 megawatts. Does that make sense?

如果你願意，我們可以逐一講解那個階段，或者我們是如何考慮讓它上線的，以及我們的進度安排。但我認為全年的平均成本最終會在每100兆瓦800美元左右——也就是1800萬美元。這樣說你明白嗎？

Yeah. That's super helpful. That's super helpful. Thank you very much. Thank you very much for that. Yeah. So that's maybe an easier way to get to the same number as what I outlined earlier.

是的，這太有幫助了。這太有幫助了。非常感謝。非常感謝。是的，這或許是一種更簡單的方法，可以得出和我之前提到的相同的數字。

But switching topics, the Vantage Bank term loan, great to see access to that sort of capital. And I wondered if you could elaborate on how scalable this sort of financing might be and if there's a specific loan-to-value target you'd have at the asset level. Thank you very much. (multiple speakers) color on that.

換個話題，Vantage Bank的定期貸款，很高興看到可以獲得這種類型的資金。我想請您詳細說明一下這種融資方式的可擴展性如何，以及在資產層面是否有具體的貸款價值比目標。非常感謝。 （多人發言）請詳細說明。

Yes, absolutely. So that was our first one. And if you -- just to put this in context, right, this was our first facility, no operating history. And so we end up with a loan-to-value of about 25% from Vantage, which I was happy with -- at a really attractive interest rate. For next 100 megawatts -- and in fact, on the 100 there, we're looking at expansion of that. So the first 100 and our next 100, we've already seen term sheets that are 50% loan-to-value and really attractive interest rates, depending on which state you're in.

是的，當然。這是我們的第一個項目。為了便於理解，我們先說明一下背景，這是我們的第一個項目，沒有任何營運歷史。最終，我們從Vantage公司獲得了大約25%的貸款價值比，我很滿意——利率也相當優惠。接下來的100兆瓦——實際上，我們正​​在考慮擴建這100兆瓦。所以，對於最初的100兆瓦和接下來的100兆瓦，我們已經看到了貸款價值比為50%的條款清單，利率也非常優惠，具體利率取決於您所在的州。

So if we're in Texas, for example, seeing kind of the 5%, 5.5% kind of rates. And then in North Dakota, you get a subsidized rate with a little bit of help from the bank in North Dakota, that we would look at like a 1% for the first 18 months and then 5% to 5.5% after that. But, Lucas, it's looking more around 50% for the next site. But our goal is to get that to 60% to 70% LTVs.

例如，在德州，利率大概在5%到5.5%之間。而在北達科他州，由於當地銀行的補貼，貸款利率在前18個月可能只有1%，之後會上升到5%到5.5%。但是，盧卡斯，下一個項目的貸款價值比（LTV）預計會達到50%左右。我們的目標是最終將LTV提升到60%到70%。

But I'm really happy with what our finance team has done. They've really done a good job of going out to a lot of banks and priming the pump. We're seeing rates that I don't think you're seeing anywhere in the crypto industry in general.

但我對我們財務團隊的工作非常滿意。他們與多家銀行接洽，積極推動融資，做得非常好。我們現在看到的利率，我認為在整個加密貨幣行業都是前所未有的。

Now that's terrific. Good work on that. And then I'll squeeze in one final one from me.

太棒了！幹得好！最後，我也再補充一個。

So could you remind us -- I may have missed it in the prepared remarks -- where you stand on hosting agreements, call it leases, as of today? And then what's the -- what would you say is the timing for additional sign-ups? Thank you very much for that color.

所以，您能否提醒我們一下——我可能在事先準備好的發言稿中漏掉了——您目前對主機託管協議（或者說租賃協議）的立場是什麼？另外，您認為何時可以開始接受新的簽約申請？非常感謝您的解答。

Yeah. So as of today, we stand a little under 200 megawatts for hosting agreements. And -- but I think you'll see another 200 to 300 in the next few weeks, as we finalize the plans on our sites. And then we sign those concurrently with the -- however you want to say it -- the PPA or the ESA. But I would expect you should see in the next couple of weeks some of those coming through.

是的。截至目前，我們已簽署的託管協議容量略低於200兆瓦。但我認為，隨著我們最終確定站點規劃，未來幾週內還將新增200至300兆瓦的容量。屆時，我們將同時簽署購電協議（PPA）或能源共享協議（ESA）。我預計未來幾週內，部分協議將會生效。

Great. All right. Well, thank you very much for all the detail, and best of luck.

太好了。好的。非常感謝您提供的所有細節，祝您一切順利。

Right. Thanks, Lucas.

好的。謝謝你，盧卡斯。

John Todaro, Needham.

約翰·托達羅，尼德姆。

Great. Congrats, everyone, on the quarter here. And thanks for taking my question. I have two here -- one on the demand side, and then one on the supply side.

太好了。恭喜大家本季取得佳績。感謝各位回答我的問題。我有兩個問題──一個是關於需求方面的，另一個是關於供給的。

On the demand side. When we're thinking about some of these hosting agreements in your customer makeup, is it fair to say still most of this -- is that Chinese migration, or has there been some integration from sales pipeline with the current private and public companies in the US? Any commentary there?

就需求面而言，當我們考慮貴公司客戶組成中的一些主機託管協議時，是否可以說其中大部分仍然是來自中國的遷移，還是說銷售管道已經與美國現有的私營和上市公司進行了一些整合？對此您有何看法？

Yeah, I would say most of it is still that migration.

是的，我認為大部分仍然是人口遷移的問題。

Okay. Okay, great. Thanks. Okay, that's clear.

好的。好的，太好了。謝謝。好的，明白了。

And then on the supply side -- it is still a little bit of a capital-intensive business. And the last question, we got into it a little bit. But just broadly speaking -- outside of the crypto markets, if we do start to see a little bit of a slowdown here economically speaking, is there anything you guys have been starting to think about on that side and just kind of capital markets fundraising activity moving forward if we do just see a little bit more of a broader slowdown in the global economy here?

然後，在供應方面——這仍然是一個資本密集型行業。最後一個問題，我們剛才也稍微談到了。但總的來說——撇開加密貨幣市場不談，如果我們真的開始看到經濟出現一些放緩，你們是否已經開始考慮一些應對措施，以及如果全球經濟出現更廣泛的放緩，未來的資本市場融資活動會受到怎樣的影響？

I guess, maybe to be more specific, do you mean, how do we fund the build-out? Do we slow down our build-outs if there's not demand? I mean, I'm just trying to drill down exactly what --

我想，更具體地說，您的意思是，我們如何為建設籌集資金？如果沒有需求，我們是否應該放慢建造速度？我的意思是，我只是想弄清楚到底是什麼——

Yeah, exactly. So almost on both sides -- one, where do you get that insatiable demand now? Is it continuing moving forward? If we do see Bitcoin prices -- $24,000, $20,000 -- it sounds like a lot of breakeven still around $10,000. So you'd think there'd still be some healthy margins there. But any commentary on that? And then just your -- yeah -- your capital fundraising plans moving forward, if there is -- even outside of crypto -- if there's just some more a general market slowdown?

是的，沒錯。所以幾乎雙方都是如此——首先，現在這種永無止境的需求從何而來？這種需求會持續下去嗎？如果我們看到比特幣價格達到 24,000 美元或 20,000 美元，那麼盈虧平衡點似乎仍然在 10,000 美元左右。所以你可能會認為那裡仍然有相當可觀的利潤空間。對此你有什麼看法？還有，如果——即使在加密貨幣領域之外——如果整體市場出現放緩，你們未來的融資計劃是什麼？

Yeah. So for us, the -- I mean, it's a very pertinent question, obviously, with what's going on over the last week. But you're right on the numbers that you're talking about. We think as far as people continuing to operate machines they've already purchased at our site, you're looking at probably around a $9,000 Bitcoin price before you -- I think, there would even be a thought of shutting those down.

是的。所以對我們來說，——我的意思是，鑑於過去一周發生的事情，這顯然是一個非常相關的問題。但你提到的數字是對的。我們認為，如果人們繼續使用他們在我們網站上購買的機器，比特幣的價格可能要達到 9,000 美元左右，我們才會考慮關閉這些機器。

But the other question is, where does it not make sense to buy new machines? And I think that's probably in the 2022 to 2024 range. Obviously, these things always adjust. You could see network cash rate adjustment, or generally, you'll also see equipment pricing adjustment lags a week or so. But it actually happens pretty quickly. That probably takes those numbers down a little bit.

但另一個問題是，什麼時候買新機器不划算？我認為可能在2022年至2024年之間。當然，這些因素總是會調整的。例如，網路現金費率可能會調整，或者通常情況下，設備價格調整也會有一周左右的延遲。但實際上，這些調整發生得很快。這可能會使最終的數字略微下降一些。

So for us, I think the things that we think about are -- one, we're not doing a site unless we're fully contracted already. So we won't build the site unless we have the long-term contracts in place that are effectively take-or-pay contracts. So that would be the first one for us. If we -- if people stopped signing up those types of contracts, then we would pause what we were doing.

所以對我們來說，我認為我們考慮的因素是——第一，除非我們已經簽訂了完整的合同，否則我們不會建站。也就是說，除非我們簽訂了長期合同，而且這些合約實際上是「照付不議」的合同，否則我們不會建站。這是我們首先要考慮的。如果人們不再簽訂這類合同，那麼我們就會暫停我們的專案。

And then, on secondly, as far as outside capital markets, I think for us, we're pretty focused on the bank debt -- these project-level bank debt financings that seem to be just fine at the moment. If that -- if there started to be an issue with that, then we would -- we already have the whole team here spending a lot of time building out our full finance process so that -- to give us additional options. But those are the primary items, I guess.

其次，就外部資本市場而言，我認為我們目前主要關注的是銀行貸款——這些項目層面的銀行貸款融資目前看來一切順利。如果這方面出現問題，我們整個團隊已經投入大量時間來完善完整的融資流程，以便為我們提供更多選擇。但我想，這些是目前最主要的面向。

I don't know if that answers your question. I'm happy to -- if there -- if not, a follow-up is fine.

我不知道這是否回答了你的問題。我很樂意解答——如果問題解決了——如果沒有，後續跟進也沒關係。

No, that was actually perfect. That answered it pretty clearly. So that was great. Thanks for that. Yeah, so those are my main questions. Appreciate your answers on those.

不，這簡直太完美了。解釋得很清楚。太好了。謝謝。嗯，這些就是我的主要問題。非常感謝您的解答。

Sure. Thanks.

當然。謝謝。

Mike Grondahl, Northland Securities.

Mike Grondahl，北地證券。

Hey, thanks, guys. Could you maybe share with us one or two of the biggest learnings you've had so far from the North Dakota facility that you can apply to the Texas and other state projects just -- as you pull up that learning curve? Just -- what's one of the -- one or two big takeaways you've had?

嘿，謝謝各位。你們能否分享一下從北達科他州工廠計畫中汲取的最重要的一兩條經驗教訓，以便應用到德克薩斯州和其他州的計畫中？這樣可以幫助你們更快累積經驗。你們最大的收穫是什麼？

Hey, Mike, thanks for the question. It's been a steep, steep learning curve for North Dakota. So I think there's a lot of things for us to apply. But the thing that I would like to walk through on what we did there versus what we're doing now is, really, how well developed our team is now.

嘿，麥克，謝謝你的提問。北達科他州的學習曲線非常陡峭，所以我們需要學習很多東西。但我想重點談談我們之前在那裡的做法和現在的做法之間的區別，那就是我們團隊現在的發展水平有多高。

When we started that project in North Dakota, there was really five to seven of us employed here. And we were all doing everything, and now we have a really well-developed team for these sites. We brought on Jeff who runs the -- really, the design and development and the procurement. And he was consulting us at first, but we brought him on a full time. But we've really developed that team so that we can do multiple of these at the same time. So there's one.

我們在北達科他州啟動那個計畫時，只有五到七個人。當時我們什麼都做，現在我們已經組了一支非常成熟的團隊來負責這些專案。我們聘請了傑夫，他負責設計、開發和採購。起初他是我們的顧問，後來我們讓他全職加入。我們已經把這支團隊發展壯大，現在可以同時進行多個專案了。所以，這就是其中一個項目。

And then, two, the supply chain side of it, right? We figured out who delivers and who doesn't. And then we've also expanded that, again, with our team as well, so that the procurement of mostly like transformers and switchgear.

其次，還有供應鏈方面，對吧？我們弄清楚了誰能供貨，誰不能。然後，我們團隊也擴大了這方面的範圍，主要採購變壓器和開關設備之類的東西。

And then, lastly, I think, will be the ramp-up of operations. That was -- it was fairly, I mean, I would say, chaotic is a good word to use when we started in February, and you're racking all of these miners. And we did use a lot of the people locally because you need this real big burst of labor, really, to put all of these things up and plug them in. But you only need it for a few weeks.

最後，我認為，接下來就是逐步擴大營運規模了。二月剛開始的時候，情況相當混亂，用「混亂」來形容可能比較貼切，當時我們需要把所有的礦機都安裝到位。我們確實僱用了很多當地人，因為確實需要大量的勞動力來建造和調試所有這些設備。但實際上只需要幾週。

But finding that -- it's going to be different by geography. But I will tell you finding part-time workers in February in North Dakota and buildings that really are insulated wasn't really super easy. But I think that part and the ramp-up and the networking -- so those are big learning curves for us that I think are going to make things a lot easier going forward.

但找到合適的人選——這會因地域而異。不過我可以告訴你，二月在北達科他州找到兼職工人，以及真正隔熱良好的建築，真的不容易。但我認為這部分工作，包括初期營運和人脈拓展——這些都是我們重要的學習經歷，我相信這些經歷會讓未來的工作變得輕鬆很多。

Also, one of the things that we were doing is we're doing a lot of this stuff on site. We thought we would do all level -- site-level management. But we've changed that. We've hired and built a network operation center here in Dallas that I think will be much more efficient. So it'll be more centralized for a lot of those networking, monitoring functions. They will be centralized and watch all of these locations around the country.

此外，我們之前做的一件事是，很多工作都是在現場完成的。我們原本打算進行全方位的現場管理，但現在我們改變了策略。我們在達拉斯聘請並建立了一個網路營運中心，我認為它會更有效率。這樣一來，很多網路和監控功能都會更加集中化。他們將集中管理全國各地的所有站點。

Great. And just one more. Bitmain is a really nice partner to have here. And I think you've pointed out one of the advantages is, Bitmain can refer their customers to you for your hosting in colocation. Demand seems like it's been so strong. How are -- you're using Bitmain, their customers. How are the customers finding you? Could you walk us through that a little bit?

太好了。還有一個問題。比特大陸真的是個很棒的合作夥伴。我想您已經提到過，其中一個優點是，比特大陸可以把他們的客戶推薦給您，讓您使用他們的主機託管服務。看來市場需求非常強勁。您是使用比特大陸的服務，他們的客戶是如何找到您的呢？能詳細介紹一下嗎？

Yeah. I mean, that's a big part of the people that are finding us has been that route, right? And when I think about marketing for our services, having the company that is the dominant maker and seller of the hardware, us being one of their preferred hosting providers, and then directing customers to us, I mean, I don't know that I could build a better marketing arm than that.

是的。我的意思是，找到我們的人很大一部分都是透過這種方式找到我們的，對吧？當我想到如何推廣我們的服務時，想想看，硬體領域的主要製造商和銷售商，我們又是他們首選的託管服務提供商之一，然後他們把客戶引薦給我們，我的意思是，我不知道還能有比這更好的營銷方式了。

But people are also finding us just on a daily or weekly basis. There've been a lot of promises made by a lot of participants in the industry. And they haven't been able to follow through on building out new capacity and plugging machines in. And I think there's -- you guys follow this. So there's a lot of machines, I think, sitting in warehouses right now. And so it's fairly easy to find customers. It's really about trying to deliver.

但人們也經常每天或每週找到我們。業內許多參與者都做出了許多承諾，但他們卻無法兌現擴建產能和安裝設備的義務。我想——你們也關注這一點——現在有很多機器都閒置在倉庫裡。所以，尋找客戶其實並不難，關鍵在於能否交付。

We spend a lot more time trying to talk about when we can realistically deliver for a new customer versus going out and proactively marketing and trying to find them because we just don't have the capacity to sell right now.

我們現在花了很多時間討論何時才能真正為新客戶提供服務，而不是主動出去進行行銷並尋找他們，因為我們目前根本沒有銷售能力。

Good. Okay. Hey, thank you.

好的。好的。嘿，謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Rob Brown, Lake Street Capital.

羅布布朗，湖街資本。

Hi, good morning, and [there's] progress in last few months. Just wanted to get an update on the pricing environment with the demand relative to the supply so strong. How's the pricing environment right now? And has it changed more recently with the market changes?

您好，早安。過去幾個月取得了一些進展。我想了解目前供需關係如此強勁的情況下，價格環境的最新情況。現在的價格環境如何？最近市場變化是否帶來了新的影響？

So pricing -- and I think we've talked about this -- we don't give specific numbers. But our pricing increased fairly significantly from our first site, the first Jamestown site, to what we're doing now. And we don't see that changing. We haven't -- obviously, there's been a lot of volatility in the crypto markets in the last week. But we haven't seen any change to that yet, and I don't expect there to be really any change to that.

所以，關於定價——我想我們之前也討論過——我們不提供具體的數字。但是，從我們的第一個網站，也就是第一個 Jamestown 網站，到現在的定價，我們的價格上漲了不少。而且我們預計價格不會改變。當然，過去一周加密貨幣市場波動很大。但我們目前還沒有看到任何影響，而且我預計價格也不會有任何變化。

Like I said, I think there's -- even if there are no new machines purchased for the next six months, I think there's still many sitting on the sideline and so much capacity that's still required that you're going to want to get these plugged in even all the way down, as I mentioned earlier, to Bitcoin at $10,000. So we've seen pricing go up from our first facility pretty significantly. And we haven't seen any softness in it, just given the volatility in the last week.

正如我所說，即使未來六個月沒有新機器購置，我認為仍然有很多機器閒置，而且產能需求依然巨大，所以即使比特幣價格跌到我之前提到的 1 萬美元，你也需要讓這些機器投入使用。因此，我們看到價格從我們第一個工廠開始就大幅上漲。而且，考慮到過去一周的波動，我們還沒有看到價格有任何疲軟跡象。

Okay, great to hear. And then on the Texas wind facility, could you give us a sense of -- I think you said by the end of the year -- but how is that developing? What are the key milestones in getting that open? And how's the supply chain at this point in terms of getting the materials you need?

好的，很高興聽到這些。關於德州的風力發電廠，您能否介紹一下—我記得您說過年底前會投產—目前的進展如何？投產的關鍵里程碑有哪些？就所需材料的供應而言，目前的供應鏈狀況如何？

Yes. So that's a great question. So we've broken ground there. When we were in North Dakota, I was watching them take out basically a cornfield, and then we're putting a site up. And this one is cotton mostly, I think, and now we're building the site there. So the dirt work is being done.

是的，這是一個很好的問題。我們已經在那裡破土動工了。之前在北達科他州的時候，我看到他們基本上把一片玉米田剷平了，然後我們開始在那裡建造工地。我想這塊地以前主要是種棉花的，現在我們正在那裡建造工地。所以土方工程正在進行中。

In our experience, it'll take a few months to get the buildings up. Last time, it took us three months to get the buildings up. And then the last time and still to this point of -- in North Dakota, it was transformers. And I think you'll hear that across the board and the industry's transformers and maybe some switchgear on the electronic side.

根據我們的經驗，搭建這些建築物需要幾個月的時間。上次我們花了三個月才把建築物搭好。而且，上次到現在——在北達科他州——遇到的問題是變壓器。我想你會聽到整個產業都在討論這個問題，包括變壓器，或許還有一些電子方面的開關設備。

We were a little more ahead of the game on this one. And so we actually have the transformers. Some being delivered to that site next week and then all the way through the summer. So it'll be -- I think we're in really good shape to bringing that one online in the early fall time frame and it'll be the --shortly, thereafter, the other Texas wind facility. But the supply chains still for transformers and switchgear are probably the biggest bottleneck. But we're out ahead of that.

我們在這件事上稍微領先一步。我們已經有變壓器了。部分變壓器下週就會運到現場，然後整個夏天都會陸續運到。所以我覺得我們很有希望在初秋的時候讓這個項目投入運營，之後不久，另一個德克薩斯州的風力發電廠也會投入運營。但是變壓器和開關設備的供應鏈可能仍然是最大的瓶頸。不過我們已經提前解決了這個問題。

Thank you. I'll turn it over.

謝謝。我這就翻過來。

Chris Brendler, D.A. Davidson.

克里斯布倫德勒，D.A.戴維森。

Hi, thanks. Good morning. Just a quick follow-up on the hosting and pricing environment. I heard from one of your competitors last night that -- taking down their projections not sure about hosting demand or at least not sure about the ability for hosts to fund both rigs or even fund power infrastructure.

您好，謝謝。早安.關於主機託管和定價環境，我有個後續問題。昨晚我從你們的一家競爭對手那裡了解到，他們撤回了先前的預測，因為他們不確定主機託管的需求情況，或者至少不確定主機託管商是否有能力同時承擔鑽井平台和電力基礎設施的費用。

So just wanted to ask like -- it sounds like you're really fully committed for the first 200. You'll cross that bridge, I guess, to get to -- in fiscal 2023. But has there been a significant fee change, just given the difficulty of financing this? Or is there still a lot of backup demand because things were so tight for so long, given the rise in Bitcoin last year?

所以我想問一下——聽起來你們對前200個代幣的開發非常投入。我想你們會在2023財年克服這個難關。但考慮到融資的難度，費用是否有大幅調整？或者，鑑於去年比特幣價格的上漲，由於市場長期緊張，是否仍存在大量的備用需求？

Yeah. Right now, for us on the demand side, we have like plenty of demand for these -- at least these 400. But I think we have significantly more than that that we're in discussions with. And then the ones that we're talking to for these, specifically, I know, have -- the machines are already purchased, and most of them are sitting in the US.

是的。就目前需求而言，我們對這些設備的需求非常旺盛——至少這400台是這樣。但我認為我們正在洽談的客戶遠不止這些。而且，我知道我們正在洽談的那些客戶——他們的機器已經售出，大部分都在美國。

So it's not like they're -- they need to pay their contract, or they're going to buy new machines to go and do this. It's mostly machines that are being moved. And I know there's other -- even some of the publicly traded miners have machines that they're trying to put online as well. But I think that demand is still there.

所以，他們並不是需要支付合約款項，或是購買新機器來做這件事。主要是現有機器在遷移。我知道還有其他一些公司——甚至一些上市礦商也在嘗試將一些機器上線。但我認為這種需求依然存在。

And as far as the financing -- so that's the customers financing those -- the equipment that's going to go into the facilities. And then as far as us financing that, when we have the 400 with our -- with the IPO proceeds and the debt financing, we think we're in a really good position to fund the infrastructure build-out ourselves for that.

至於融資方面－也就是客戶為這些設備（將要安裝到設施中的設備）提供資金。至於我們自己的融資，當我們利用IPO所得資金和債務融資籌集到400美元後，我們認為我們完全有能力自行承擔基礎建設的資金。

I mean, obviously, this is an extremely volatile industry, and so things can change over time. But that's where we stand right now.

我的意思是，很顯然，這是一個波動性極大的行業，所以情況會隨著時間而改變。但這就是我們目前的處境。

Yeah. And things can change real quick and, hopefully, can change for the better. A little bit positive today, it looks like.

是啊。情況變化很快，希望能夠朝著好的方向發展。今天看來情況稍微好轉了一些。

How does Bitmain fit into this? I feel like -- I'm hearing sort of noise that, given the very tight market conditions, equities out of the question, debt becoming more difficult -- that could be temporary but at least for now -- there's a rising probability that some of these equipment orders from Bitmain will break, and they won't be able to be delivered. Is there any way for Bitmain and -- or Applied to take advantage of that, if there's excess rigs floating around the market?

比特大陸在這件事中扮演什麼角色？我感覺到——我聽到一些風聲——鑑於目前市場行情非常緊張，股票市場行情不佳，債務融資也變得更加困難——這或許只是暫時的，但至少就目前而言——比特大陸的部分設備訂單出現違約的可能性越來越大，這些訂單可能無法交付。如果市場上出現過剩的鑽孔機，比特大陸和/或應用材料能否從中獲利？

Yeah, I think for us, if we find customers that want that, which we still have some customers that want that, that we can take advantage of that.

是的，我認為對我們來說，如果我們能找到想要這種服務的客戶（我們仍然有一些客戶有這種需求），我們就可以利用這一點。

I think the other thing that we think about in the marketplace, if you get much more -- a much tighter capital market, which has obviously arrived, is maybe it'll bring opportunities for us for consolidation or as typical -- what you would see in the business model that we're running, doing, some -- maybe some type of sale-leaseback on facilities that are already running and running those for other people. But I think, for us, we're hopeful that there's going to be those kind of opportunities that are really born from a tighter capital markets environment.

我認為我們在市場中考慮的另一件事是，如果資本市場更加緊縮——這顯然已經到來——或許會給我們帶來整合的機會，或者像我們目前運營的商業模式那樣，進行一些售後回租，將一些已經運營的設施轉租給其他人。但我認為，我們希望在資本市場緊縮的環境下，能夠湧現更多這樣的機會。

Yeah. I guess my -- the point of the question was more, is Bitmain available to take advantage of that? Like, would they potentially take excess machines and put them in your facilities? Like how does -- what does a ramp-up of the Bitmain deal look like?

是的。我想我的問題重點在於，比特大陸是否能夠利用這一點？例如，他們是否有可能把多餘的機器放進你們的工廠？比特大陸的這筆交易是如何逐步推進的？

So I mean, I don't -- I can't speak for Bitmain, right? I don't know what they would do specifically, and I haven't talked to them about that. But generally, what you -- when we're hosting for Bitmain, it's for Bitmain's customers that buy their equipment. So I just said -- I don't want to try to answer anything as far as how Bitmain would take advantage of slack in the equipment environment.

所以我的意思是，我不能代表比特大陸發言，對吧？我不知道他們具體會怎麼做，我也沒跟他們談過這個問題。但一般來說，我們為比特大陸提供伺服器託管服務，是為了那些購買比特大陸設備的比特大陸客戶。所以我剛才說了——我不想試著回答比特大陸會如何利用設備環境中的空閒資源。

Yeah, makes sense. Makes sense. I'm just trying to get a positive spin here.

嗯，有道理。確實有道理。我只是想往好的方面想。

A different question is -- anything from your perspective -- North Dakota versus Texas like -- why did you start in North Dakota? And what are the pros and cons of doing your next transaction in Texas for next build-out?

另一個問題是——從你的角度來看——北達科他州和德克薩斯州相比——為什麼你選擇在北達科他州起步？如果下次在德州進行交易和擴建，優缺點是什麼？

Yeah. Yeah. So North Dakota was great, or it's been great to us. The state's really good. We had a ribbon cutting there last week with the governor. And one of the primary reasons we went to North Dakota is we found a really good power partner that provided us -- our number one thing we're looking for which is low-cost power with a stable price with a long-term contract. And so we found that there.

是的，是的。北達科他州對我們來說很棒，或者說一直都很棒。這個州真的很好。上週我們和州長一起在那裡舉行了剪綵儀式。我們去北達科他州的主要原因之一是，我們在那裡找到了一個非常好的電力合作夥伴，他們能滿足我們最迫切的需求——價格穩定、價格低廉且有長期合約的電力。我們在那裡找到了這樣的合作夥伴。

And then also the climate, both the business climate, but actually, the actual climate where -- you want to run these in a colder climate. So it's really well built for an air-cooled facility.

此外，還有氣候因素，包括商業環境，以及實際的氣候條件——你肯定希望這些設備在較冷的氣候下運作。所以它非常適合在風冷設施中使用。

And then in Texas, we're finding some really interesting opportunities with owners of renewable generation assets out in West Texas, where they're not -- they're being curtailed. They're not getting all of their power purchased, and so they can significantly enhance their return by co-locating us with them. And so those are just the opportunities that we're seeing. And also, Texas is very welcoming of our industry as well.

在德克薩斯州，我們發現了一些非常有趣的機遇，尤其是在西德克薩斯州，那裡的可再生能源發電資產所有者面臨電力限制，他們的電力無法全部售出。因此，如果我們與他們合作，他們的收益將顯著提高。以上就是我們目前看到的機會。此外，德克薩斯州對我們的行業也非常歡迎。

So I think you'll see us do more in both of those states. But there's other states that we're looking at as well. But Texas is interesting that it's massive as far as the power supply in Texas. One of the only issues you run into in North Dakota is just -- it's a great state. They have a big surplus of power. But even that big surplus of power, it's a low population, and it's just not a huge amount.

所以我認為你們會看到我們在這兩個州開展更多業務。但我們也在關注其他一些州。德州的情況很有意思，它的電力供應非常龐大。北達科他州唯一的問題是──雖然它是個很棒的州，電力過剩很多，但即便如此，由於人口稀少，電力總量也不算巨大。

Yeah, great. Okay. One last one is, I think -- as I mentioned at the start of my questions, the market conditions can change pretty fast in this space. Suffice to say, it's better to be a host in this environment than it is to be a self-miner. Is your strategy shift already paying off?

好的，太好了。最後一個問題，正如我在提問之初提到的，這個領域的市場環境變化非常快。總而言之，在這種環境下，做託管方比做自挖礦者好得多。你的策略轉變已經開始見效了嗎？

Look, so as far as hosting, the way I think about our business is, we have security from our customers. We have these long-term take-or-pay contracts with security on the equipment. We sit at a much more, I guess, higher level, higher security level in the industry. We still get to generate great margins. We still get good returns on capital. But we also don't get the upside of Bitcoin, 65,000. So we give that up for more security and more stability.

你看，就主機託管而言，我看待我們業務的方式是，我們能從客戶那裡獲得安全保障。我們簽訂了長期的「照付不議」合同，設備也得到了安全保障。我認為，我們在業界處於更高的安全水平。我們仍然能夠獲得豐厚的利潤，仍然能夠獲得良好的資本回報。但我們也因此無法獲得比特幣65,000美元的暴漲收益。所以我們放棄了這個可能性，換取了更高的安全性和穩定性。

So I think this is a much more attractive model in a volatile industry, overall, as far as the capital commitment for the return, as far as our security level, as far as the predictability and the stability of it. So I think this -- the recent volatility really highlights the benefits of this model versus the self-mining model.

因此，我認為在波動較大的行業中，就回報所需的資本投入、安全性、可預測性和穩定性而言，這總體上是一個更具吸引力的模式。所以我認為，最近的市場波動確實凸顯了這種模式相對於自挖礦模式的優勢。

Yeah, seeing the same thing. Congrats, Wes. Thanks.

是的，我也看到了。恭喜你，韋斯。謝謝。

Thanks.

謝謝。

(Operator Instructions) There are no further questions in the queue. I'd like to hand the call back to management for closing remarks.

（接線員指示）隊列中沒有其他問題了。我將把電話轉回給管理階層做總結發言。

Great. Thanks, everyone, for joining our first earnings conference call, and I look forward to more in the future. Also, just want to thank all of our employees. It's been a really hard push to get our first facility online and these other facilities lined up, but everyone's done a great job here. So just want to say thanks. And we'll talk to you in a few months.

太好了。感謝各位參加我們的首次財報電話會議，期待未來能與大家再次相聚。同時，我也要感謝我們所有的員工。為了讓我們的第一家工廠順利投產，並籌備其他工廠的建設，我們付出了巨大的努力，但每個人都做得非常出色。在此，我衷心地感謝大家。幾個月後，我們再見！

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's teleconference. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time and have a wonderful day.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝各位的參與。現在可以掛斷電話了，祝您有美好的一天。