Bitcoin Miners Are Becoming Key Players in the AI Infrastructure Race

Companies involved in Bitcoin mining are increasingly expanding into artificial-intelligence infrastructure as major technology firms struggle to secure enough electricity for new data centres.

On NYSE and across Wall Street, access to power is now viewed as the primary competitive advantage of Bitcoin miners, especially after the 2024 halving reduced mining profitability and forced companies to seek alternative revenue streams.

According to estimates from Bernstein, publicly traded Bitcoin miners now control more than 27 gigawatts of planned power capacity across the United States.

The firm also noted that miners have already announced more than $90 billion in AI-related agreements tied to roughly 3.7 gigawatts of infrastructure capacity.

Google and Blackstone Intensify AI Infrastructure Push

The shift gained additional attention after reports that Google and Blackstone are building a new AI cloud business based on Google’s TPU chips.

Blackstone is expected to invest approximately $5 billion into the project while maintaining a controlling stake.

The venture aims to deploy 500 megawatts of capacity by 2027, while total investments including financing could eventually reach $25 billion.

Electricity Has Become the Main Bottleneck for AI

AI companies are increasingly facing delays in securing enough power for large-scale computing clusters.

Bernstein noted that connecting just one gigawatt of capacity to the grid can now take more than four years in many US states.

Median waiting times for grid approval reportedly stand at around 50 months.

Even Texas — one of America’s largest data-centre markets — has shifted to batch reviews in order to manage overloaded interconnection queues.

Bitcoin Miners Already Have Operational Infrastructure

This has significantly increased the value of Bitcoin mining companies.

Most miners already operate large industrial facilities equipped with:

• existing grid access;
• cooling systems;
• substations;
• high-density computing infrastructure.

Building comparable systems from scratch now takes years.

Previously, RAND estimated that the United States could add roughly 82 gigawatts of available capacity by 2030.

However, AI demand is now directly competing for those resources.

Regulatory Pressure Is Slowing Traditional Data-Centre Expansion

Environmental reviews, local political opposition, and land-permitting challenges are also slowing the development of traditional data centres.

Mining companies partially avoid these issues because many of their industrial sites are already operational.

Miners Shift Toward AI Hosting and Cloud Services

Several major mining firms have already begun pivoting toward AI hosting and high-performance computing services.

IREN has emerged as one of the most prominent names in the transition.

Bernstein stated that the company is well positioned to redirect a significant portion of its business toward AI infrastructure following multibillion-dollar agreements with Microsoft and NVIDIA.

One NVIDIA-related agreement reportedly carries a total value of $3.4 billion, including $2.1 billion tied to GPU deployment infrastructure.

Other Miners Are Also Transforming Their Business Models

Riot Platforms has also explored AI colocation opportunities and signed infrastructure agreements involving AMD.

Core Scientific expanded hosting agreements with AI cloud company CoreWeave.

Hut 8 has likewise entered separate cloud-related infrastructure deals.

Soluna Now Earns More From Data Centres Than Mining

Soluna Holdings recently demonstrated how rapidly the sector’s business structure is evolving.

The company reported 58% revenue growth in the first quarter, driven primarily by data-centre hosting revenue rather than cryptocurrency mining.

See also: "Bitcoin Miners’ Revenues Fell 9.44% After Sharp Mining Difficulty Increase"

#Mining #AI

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