Bitcoin miners chase 30 GW AI capacity to offset hashprice pressure

Public Bitcoin miners are planning about 30 gigawatts of new power capacity aimed at artificial intelligence workloads, nearly three times the 11 GW they currently have online, as they race to offset shrinking mining margins and reposition for the next growth cycle.

The buildout, compiled by TheEnergyMag across 14 publicly traded Bitcoin (BTC) miners, underscores how aggressively the industry is pivoting away from traditional hashpower amid persistently weak hashprice conditions.

On paper, the planned expansion amounts to what TheEnergyMag described as “a small country’s worth of power infrastructure.” In reality, much of the 30 GW sits in development pipelines, interconnection queues or early-stage plans, rather than operational facilities.

Current and proposed power capacities of public Bitcoin miners. Source: TheEnergyMag

The widening gap suggests competition is shifting from ASIC efficiency to securing power, financing and delivering data centers on time.

“This is the megawatt arms race of the AI boom,” TheEnergyMag said, adding that monetization ultimately depends on whether AI demand remains strong enough to justify the scale of investment.

Related: The real ‘supercycle’ isn’t crypto, it’s AI infrastructure: Analyst

AI pivot delivers early revenue gains for some miners

The shift toward artificial intelligence infrastructure reflects an increasingly hybrid strategy among established Bitcoin miners, with some companies already reporting meaningful revenue contributions from AI and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads.

One example is HIVE Digital, which recently posted record quarterly revenue driven in part by its AI and HPC business lines. The company reported fourth-quarter sales of $93.1 million, up 219% year on year, even as Bitcoin prices declined during the period.

Investors, too, are attuned to the shift. Earlier this week, Starboard Value went public with its suggestion to Riot Platforms management that they accelerate the miner’s expansion into HPC and AI data centers.

The push to diversify comes as mining profits have taken a hit since the 2024 Bitcoin halving, which cut block rewards and squeezed margins across the industry.

Conditions have gotten even tougher since the fourth quarter, when heavy selling pressure sent Bitcoin tumbling from its record high above $126,000. Prices eventually stabilized in February, after briefly falling to below $60,000.

Despite these headwinds, US-based miners showed resilience at the start of the year, with output rebounding after a severe winter storm temporarily disrupted operations.

Source: Julien Moreno

Related: Paradigm reframes Bitcoin mining as grid asset, not energy drain