Canaan Inc. (NASDAQ: CAN), the Bitcoin mining equipment manufacturer, has secured a contract to provide heat-recovery computing infrastructure to a district heating network in the Nordic region, the company announced today.
The deal centers on Canaan’s Avalon A1566HA hydro-cooled mining units, which capture thermal output from Bitcoin mining operations and redirect it as hot water into residential heating systems. The units generate water at approximately 80 degrees Celsius — a temperature range compatible with existing district heating infrastructure.
The project is structured in two phases. A first phase of 228 A1566HA units, totaling 2 MW of heating capacity, is operational and has been delivering hot water to local residents.
In March 2026, the unnamed Nordic heating provider placed a follow-on order for an additional 692 units, expanding total capacity to 8 MW. At full deployment, the system is expected to serve approximately 2,800 homes.
Canaan’s architecture gives the system a technical edge over traditional boilers, according to the company. Because the heating nodes run many parallel A1566HA units that support dynamic overclocking and underclocking, operators can adjust output in real time to match shifting heating demand. The parallel design also reduces single-point failure risk and simplifies maintenance compared to centralized boiler systems.
The selection came through a competitive evaluation process in which the Customer assessed multiple solutions before choosing Canaan’s equipment for the second and larger phase of the project. The Nordic region is a global benchmark for district heating technology, and governments there have built policy frameworks that incentivize efficient heat distribution across urban networks.
Bitcoin and energy-integrated compute
CEO Nangeng Zhang said he took a direct role in the platform’s development, including the physical design of the unit’s form factor.
“Heat reuse is no longer an ancillary byproduct of compute. It is central to building a more efficient, sustainable energy future, and a core part of how we think about system design at Canaan,” Zhang said.
For Canaan, the contract represents a strategic push beyond its core Bitcoin mining equipment business into what the company calls “energy-integrated compute infrastructure.” The hash-to-heat concept has circulated in the mining industry for years, but the challenge of generating high-grade heat at commercial scale has limited widespread adoption. Canaan positions the Nordic deployment as evidence that the barrier has been crossed.
Canaan’s stock was down nearly 15% today, trading near $0.40.
