Major bitcoin miners are increasingly repurposing their energy facilities and network infrastructure for AI and high-performance computing (HPC) data centers, according to Cointelegraph.
By the end of 2025, global AI data center capacity is expected to reach 29.6 GW, according to Stanford University. The industry’s bottleneck is not hardware but grid-connected electricity: substations, cooling, and permits. Miners have been building these facilities for bitcoin mining in recent years.
Stanford University also noted that in 2022, AI capacity was below 1 GW, and it has grown approximately 200 times over three years. The cumulative AI electricity demand through 2024 is projected at 9.4 GW. The most resource-intensive training runs could consume over 100 MW. Since 2006, the cost of GPU computing has decreased by more than 99%.
In the U.S., the university counted 5,427 data centers.
Electricity More Valuable Than ASICs
Specialized mining equipment is unsuitable for training models or inference. AI clients need energy facilities, electricity supply contracts, network connections, and ready-made rack enclosures. These facilities are often located in U.S. regions with cheap electricity, including Texas and the Gulf Coast.
Several miners have already signed major deals in the AI and HPC sectors:
- In November 2025, IREN signed a five-year agreement with Microsoft for cloud GPU services worth approximately $9.7 billion for a 750 MW campus in Childress, Texas.
- In December 2025, Hut 8 signed a 15-year contract with Fluidstack for $7 billion for the River Bend facility in Louisiana with a capacity of 245 MW. Payments are secured by Google.
- TeraWulf announced contracted HPC revenue of $12.8 billion and reported that it is already earning more from leasing than mining.
- Core Scientific expanded its agreement with CoreWeave to $10.2 billion over 12 years.
AI Shift Alters Crypto Company Valuations
According to CoinShares, public miners have announced AI and HPC contracts exceeding $70 billion. Companies with such agreements are trading at a 12.3x revenue multiple over 12 months, compared to 5.9x for miners focused solely on bitcoin mining.
Analysts predict the AI segment’s share of public miners’ revenue could grow to about 70% by the end of 2026, up from around 30% in the first quarter of 2026.
According to JPMorgan, the economics of bitcoin mining have deteriorated sharply this year. The average cost to mine one coin is $78,000, while the current price is around $60,000. At this price level, more than 20% of miners are operating at a loss.
However, transitioning to AI remains expensive. CoinShares estimated the cost of typical cryptocurrency mining infrastructure at $700,000-$1 million per MW. AI facilities with liquid cooling may require $8-15 million per MW.
Cointelegraph also highlighted risks: increased debt load, project delays, and reliance on a limited number of hyperscalers. For example, Hut 8 plans to launch River Bend only in the second quarter of 2027. By the end of March 2026, IREN disclosed about $3.75 billion in convertible debt and in May raised an additional $3 billion through a new offering.
In May, major public miners sold over 32,000 BTC, more than in all of 2025.
