Existing infrastructure provides a competitive edge
Building a data center from scratch requires years of effort, particularly in securing new grid connections and necessary permits. In contrast, Bitcoin mining companies have successfully negotiated land use rights, locked in energy contracts, developed cooling systems, and established grid relationships that are crucial to their operations. These early investments have given miners a significant first-mover advantage, saving valuable time and enabling them to quickly pivot to new opportunities, such as AI data hosting. This time advantage is particularly evident among global mining giants, whose infrastructure decisions have yielded substantial returns.
Matthew Sigel of VanEck points out that mining companies are still trading at a relatively low discount in terms of market capitalization per megawatt. He notes that the market seems to overlook the growing demand from AI centers or underestimates the adaptability of miners. Nevertheless, industry data shows that top miners plan to triple their total power capacity by 2027, rising from 7GW to 20GW.
“Bitcoin miners have tremendous potential to repurpose their energy infrastructure for AI data centers; however, their stock valuations remain lower than those of traditional data center operators,” Sigel observed.
Another key factor is the flexibility of Bitcoin miners in managing power usage. Unlike standard data centers, miners can adjust their operational scale in a short time, allowing them to alleviate grid pressure during peak demand, particularly from AI workloads. This operational flexibility enables them to pause activities during peak hours to support grid stability, maintaining balance without causing significant service interruptions.
AI transformation reshaping mining companies
Speculation around Bitcoin miners venturing into AI has now turned into concrete investment actions. Companies like MARA are transforming their mining facilities into large data center campuses to accommodate AI-driven workloads. Core Scientific has explicitly planned a transition to the AI sector and secured up to $1 billion in financing from Morgan Stanley to accelerate these efforts.
Compared to AI-oriented data center operations, the relative profitability of Bitcoin mining is changing. CleanSpark highlighted at the beginning of 2026 that mining returns are lagging behind the AI sector at the current hash rate. Additionally, the global mining hash rate has reportedly declined by 6% since November 2025, partly due to miners redirecting hardware to AI services.
Meanwhile, Bitdeer is advancing plans to deploy 50,000 of its proprietary ASIC devices, aiming for an operational capacity of 413 megawatts. These expansions not only significantly enhance the performance of the Bitcoin network but also open up new revenue streams, especially as some hardware is redirected to serve the AI market.