Rumble Makes Bold Move Into AI Infrastructure with $767 Million Northern Data Acquisition

Published on November 13, 2025

In what's turning out to be one of the more interesting tech deals this year, video platform Rumble just announced they're buying German AI cloud company Northern Data.

The all-stock transaction values Northern Data at around $767 million, though some reports put the total value closer to $970 million when you factor in additional payments.

What makes this deal particularly fascinating isn't just the price tag. It's the fact that Rumble, which most people know as the platform hosting Truth Social, is basically making a massive pivot into AI infrastructure.

They're not just dipping their toes in the water here – they're diving headfirst into the deep end.

The Deal Structure

Here's how it breaks down: Northern Data shareholders will get 2.0281 newly issued Class A Rumble shares for each share they currently hold. That's actually a discount of about 13% from where Northern Data's stock closed on Friday.

Once everything's finalized (which they're expecting sometime in Q2 2026), Northern Data investors will end up owning roughly 30% of the combined company.

But wait, there's more. Northern Data shareholders could also see an additional $200 million in cash if the company manages to sell off its Corpus Christi data center before the deal wraps up. That's a nice little incentive to get things moving.

What Rumble Gets Out of This

The acquisition isn't just about adding some cloud capabilities to Rumble's portfolio. They're getting access to approximately 22,400 Nvidia GPUs – specifically the H100 and H200 models that everyone in AI is scrambling to get their hands on right now.

These aren't your everyday graphics cards; we're talking about the heavy-duty processors that power everything from AI model training to high-speed video rendering.

On top of that hardware, Rumble will inherit Northern Data's network of data centers spread across Europe and the United States.

The flagship facility in Maysville, Georgia alone brings 180 megawatts of capacity to the table. That's serious infrastructure for anyone looking to play in the AI space.

Tether's Interesting Role

Now here's where things get really interesting. Tether, the stablecoin giant, is deeply embedded in this whole arrangement. They already own about 48% of Rumble after dropping $775 million into the company back in December 2024.

That investment alone was eyebrow-raising at the time, but now it makes a lot more sense.

As part of this Northern Data deal, Tether has committed to spending $150 million on GPU services over the next two years. They've also signed up for a $100 million advertising agreement with Rumble.

Basically, Tether isn't just backing this financially – they're going to be a major customer, which helps de-risk the whole venture from day one.

Paolo Ardoino, Tether's CEO, has been pretty vocal about what they're trying to build here. He talks about creating "freedom-first" infrastructure that challenges the dominance of Big Tech.

According to Tether's recent announcement, they're planning to lease a significant portion of a 20,000+ GPU network to power their QVAC AI platform and other initiatives.

The Bigger Picture

This acquisition is part of a broader trend we're seeing where crypto and blockchain companies are moving aggressively into AI infrastructure. Earlier this year, Chainalysis picked up fraud detection startup Alterya for $150 million.

Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings grabbed a majority stake in French AI infrastructure firm Exaion for $168 million. The pattern is pretty clear – companies that made their money in crypto are seeing AI as the next frontier.

Chris Pavlovski, Rumble's CEO, positioned the deal as transformational for the company. He's talking about building out what he calls a "Freedom-First ecosystem" – expanding beyond video into financial services, AI chatbots, productivity tools, even web navigation.

It's an ambitious vision that goes way beyond just hosting videos and social media platforms.

Market Reaction and Challenges Ahead

The market seems cautiously optimistic about the whole thing. Rumble's stock jumped about 21% in pre-market trading when the news broke. Northern Data's shares did even better, soaring 47% during Monday's session.

That said, Rumble's stock has been volatile, and there are legitimate questions about execution.

Running a global network of data centers is complicated business. Integrating Northern Data's operations into Rumble's existing infrastructure won't happen overnight.

There's also the regulatory scrutiny to think about, especially given Tether's involvement and some of the legal challenges they've faced in the past.

Northern Data itself has had a bumpy road recently. They withdrew their annual forecast back in October while they were evaluating strategic options.

The company started life as a Bitcoin mining operation before pivoting hard into AI infrastructure. That kind of transformation doesn't always go smoothly.

What This Means for the Industry

If this deal works out the way Rumble and Tether are planning, it could shake up the AI infrastructure landscape in some interesting ways.

Right now, the market for GPU computing and AI cloud services is dominated by the big hyperscalers – Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud. These guys have massive resources and years of experience.

But there's a growing appetite for alternatives, especially among companies and developers who want more independence from Big Tech platforms.

Whether Rumble can actually deliver on that promise remains to be seen, but they're certainly putting their money where their mouth is.

The timing is interesting too. Global AI infrastructure spending is exploding – some analysts project the market growing from about $26 billion in 2024 to over $220 billion by 2034.

Demand for GPU computing power is outpacing supply, which creates opportunities for new players to establish themselves.

Looking Forward

Assuming everything goes according to plan and the deal closes in Q2 2026 as expected, Northern Data will delist from public markets.

Rumble will take on the responsibility of integrating those 22,400 GPUs and multiple data centers into its operations while somehow managing to compete with established cloud giants.

It's a high-stakes gamble, no question about it. But it's also exactly the kind of bold move that can reshape industries.

Whether you buy into the "Freedom-First" narrative or see this as opportunistic diversification, one thing's clear: the lines between crypto, AI, and traditional tech infrastructure are getting increasingly blurred.

For anyone watching the evolution of cloud computing and AI infrastructure, this deal is definitely worth paying attention to.

It represents a bet that there's room in the market for alternatives to Big Tech – alternatives backed by crypto money and built on GPUs that everyone wants but few can get.

We'll be watching to see how this plays out over the next year and a half. If Rumble pulls it off, they'll have positioned themselves as a serious player in the AI infrastructure game. If not, well, it'll be an expensive lesson in the challenges of pivoting from video platform to cloud computing provider.

Sources: Ventureburn, Cointelegraph, SiliconANGLE, Tether.io