Bitcoin ( BTC ) miners are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI), and high-performance computers (HPC), as transaction fees remain inconsistent. This is according to a recent VanEck study.
The firm stated that while temporary fee spikes can be caused by network congestion, the long-term growth of on-chain revenue is uncertain due to off-chain solutions like exchange-traded fund (ETFs), Futures markets, Layer-2 (L2) Solutions, and centralized Exchanges.
Bitcoin miners need to adapt as block rewards are halved every four years. BTC’s value must double in order to maintain revenue levels. This dynamic emphasizes the importance of diversification strategies such as AI and HPC.
Pivoting Moves
Bitcoin miners who are successful use alternative strategies to maximize revenue streams.
Some use mining to subsidise grid expansion in remote markets. Others use existing power infrastructures to support AI and HPC workloads that offer higher margins and open up new financing avenues.
The use of liquid cooling systems, chip designs, and co-location technology will further improve operational efficiency.
Following CoreWeave’s 700MW AI/HPC deal in 2024, several Bitcoin miners have explored similar revenue streams.
Bitfarms has hired AI/HPC consultants in order to assess the feasibility of various North American sites. Bitdeer has also cited ongoing discussions after completing a data center consulting project.
Cipher Mining (CIFR), a company that specializes in HPC data centers, secured a $50-million investment from SoftBank for its expansion. Riot platforms (RIOT), a company that specializes in AI/HPC, data centers and real estate, has expanded its board to include experts from these fields.
Meanwhile HIVE Digital Technologies appointed Craig Tavares to the position of President and COO at Buzz HPC, leading the firm’s growth into HPC and GPU cloud computing services.
Iris Energy is advancing their AI and HPC initiatives by launching a 75 Megawatts (MW), liquid-cooled AI/HPC Data Center in Childress, Texas. This data center will be launched in the second half 2025.
The company also plans to expand Sweetwater by another 600 MW. The expansion will bring its total capacity to 2 GW and make it one of North America’s largest AI/HPC eligible sites.
The report highlighted the rarity of large-scale sites, and their strategic advantage as dense compute clusters that are essential for AI model learning and iterative workloads.
Scaling Electrical Capacity
The shift to new business models such as AI has increased the need for Bitcoin miners to scale their electrical capacity.
The report assessed 13 Bitcoin miners and revealed a collective operating capacity of 7.1 gigawatts. Expansion plans predict an increase of 11.7 GW in 2025, 15.9GW in 2026, and 200.4GW by 2030, which represents a growth rate of 42 percent over three years.
An extra 7.3 GW of pipeline is planned after 2028. This is a conservative estimate, given the competitive nature in power procurement for Bitcoin mining.
Scaling up these operations will require a significant investment. Assuming that expansion through 2027 uses a modernized bitmain Antminer Pros fleet priced at $5,000 per unit, along with $450,000 per MW in supporting infrastructure, total capital expenditures are estimated at $24.8 billion.
Bitcoin miners will not dedicate their entire capacity to mining, as securing electrical power has become a critical competency due to the growing AI power demand.
Goldman Sachs estimates AI consumes about 7.7 GW global data center electricity, which is 14% of total. The figure is expected to rise to 22.7 GW (27%) by 2027.
Given the trend, Bitcoin miners will allocate 20-30% to AI and HPC workloads. This reflects a strategic pivot towards more sustainable and diverse revenue streams.
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