New York: As Bitcoin continues its volatile ascent, a quiet revolution is taking place behind the scenes: cryptocurrency miners are pivoting toward artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC), leaving the original cryptocurrency in their rearview mirror. Shares of firms once dependent solely on Bitcoin mining are now outperforming the very token they were built to generate, signaling a fundamental shift in investor sentiment.
Historically, mining firms so-called because their work mirrored the extraction of precious metals were closely tied to the ups and downs of Bitcoin prices. Two years ago, the sector enjoyed a brief boon with the emergence of AI-driven technologies, only to see share prices collapse as mining profitability waned and competition intensified. Yet 2025 has painted a different story. While Bitcoin has climbed roughly 14% this year, inching near the all-time high of $126,000, the real beneficiaries have been the miners themselves. A fund tracking publicly listed mining firms has surged more than 150% year-to-date, outpacing Bitcoin’s gains.
Investors now increasingly view these companies as tech infrastructure providers rather than mere crypto miners. “Investors are almost exclusively valuing Bitcoin miners for their HPC/AI opportunities at this point,” said John Todaro, analyst at Needham & Co. “Less than 10% of our conversations with investors actually concern Bitcoin and mining.”
Leading this transformation are firms like Cipher Mining Inc. and IREN Ltd. Cipher shares have jumped nearly 300% this year, while IREN has soared 500%, as both companies shift focus from pure crypto mining to AI infrastructure. Early in 2025, Cipher signed a landmark 10-year, $3 billion colocation deal with Fluidstack backed in part by Google guaranteeing $1.4 billion in lease obligations in exchange for a 5.4% stake in the company. IREN recently closed a $1 billion convertible note offering, while U.S.-based TeraWulf Inc. plans to issue $3.2 billion in senior secured notes to expand its Lake Mariner data center in New York.
Even international players are following suit. Singapore-based Bitdeer Technologies Group surged nearly 30% after announcing plans to convert major mining sites into AI data centers, including its 570-megawatt facility in Clarington, Ohio. The company estimates that full conversion could generate over $2 billion in annualized revenue by the end of 2026. Jeff LaBerge, Bitdeer’s VP of capital markets and strategy, emphasized that AI/HPC will complement rather than replace mining, leveraging energy-efficient sites for long-term profitability.
The pivot to AI has been accelerated by structural challenges in Bitcoin mining. Last year’s halving cut rewards from 6.25 to 3.125 Bitcoin, while rising network difficulty and slowing transaction volumes squeezed margins. Even Bitcoin’s recent record highs have offered limited relief to miners’ bottom lines.
Analysts note that the transition to AI/HPC will naturally slow the expansion of Bitcoin hashrate the total mining capacity of the industry as firms redirect power toward high-margin computing applications. “The focus is shifting from ‘how much hashrate can we add’ to ‘how efficiently can we utilize our energy footprint,’” said Wolfie Zhao of TheMinerMag. With Bitcoin’s hashprice at record lows, the alignment of mining and computing is creating a shared “energy economy” where efficiency dictates profitability.
Todaro added, “Revenue per megawatt and EBITDA margins are far higher for HPC and AI colocation than for mining. Capital markets are rewarding AI-focused data centers with much higher multiples than traditional miners.” For crypto miners, the message is clear: the future may not be in Bitcoin alone, but in the fusion of blockchain and artificial intelligence.