Hut 8, IREN Seal Multibillion-Dollar AI Deals, Lift Mining Stocks

Bitcoin completed its fourth halving on April 20, 2024, cutting the block reward from 6.25 to 3.125 Bitcoin. Combined with high energy and equipment costs, the reduction has continued to squeeze mining margins. Large miners are therefore converting their existing power capacity, facilities and cooling systems into AI and high-performance computing data centers in pursuit of more stable, long-term revenue.

Shares of miners making major bets on AI have recently far outperformed Bitcoin, but valuations have begun to diverge based on power capacity, financing capabilities and progress in delivering data centers. Nvidia’s plan to issue $20 billion in bonds to fund its AI expansion underscores strong demand for computing infrastructure. It also highlights the substantial capital spending and execution risks miners still face in making the transition.

Bitcoin miners traditionally used energy-intensive computing to maintain the blockchain, but their grid connections, land, cooling systems and data centers can be converted relatively quickly into high-performance computing facilities for AI. Bitcoin completed its fourth halving on April 20, 2024, cutting the block reward to 3.125 BTC. The resulting pressure on mining revenue has also prompted operators to seek more stable income from AI hosting.

In a May 19, 2026, report, Bernstein estimated that publicly traded Bitcoin miners control more than 27 GW of planned power capacity. The industry has announced more than $90 billion in AI agreements covering about 3.7 GW. Bernstein also assigned outperform ratings to IREN, Riot Platforms, CleanSpark and Core Scientific, underscoring how access to power has become a bottleneck for AI data-center expansion.