Bitcoin miners pour billions into AI as capex outpaces revenue 15-to-1

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Public Bitcoin miners are spending billions chasing artificial quality and high-performance computing revenue, though returns person yet to support pace, underscoring the monolithic upfront concern required to diversify beyond Bitcoin mining.

In its latest Miner Weekly newsletter, BlocksBridge Consulting reported that a radical of 15 Bitcoin miners and AI data-center companies spent a combined $30.7 cardinal connected superior assets successful their latest 2026 reporting periods, already 42.6% much than the $21.53 cardinal they spent passim 2025.

Among Bitcoin miners specifically, the spread betwixt superior spending and AI gross remains significant. Nine comparable miners spent $5.11 cardinal connected superior assets during the archetypal fractional of 2026 portion generating conscionable $341.2 cardinal successful straight reported AI and HPC gross — a astir 15-to-1 capex-to-revenue ratio.

BlocksBridge calculated superior spending based connected currency purchases and allocations to hardware, property, instrumentality and different productive assets, aft accounting for proceeds and refunds from plus sales. 

Despite the gap, AI and HPC gross is accelerating. The 9 miners generated $205.8 cardinal from those businesses successful the 2nd quarter, up 52% quarter-on-quarter, with Core Scientific, TeraWulf and Bitdeer among the companies reporting gains.

Bitcoin miners’ superior expenditures are vastly outpacing AI and HPC gross truthful far. Source: Miner Weekly

Related: Public Bitcoin miners chopped hashrate 13.4% arsenic AI infrastructure gross grows

The steep outgo of pivoting to AI

AI and information centers person been touted arsenic a mode for Bitcoin mining companies to diversify amid challenging conditions successful the mining sector, but BlocksBridge’s information shows that the pivot comes with important upfront costs.

“Power contracts and disposable onshore whitethorn springiness miners a starting advantage, but converting those assets into AI-ready capableness requires substations, buildings, cooling systems, networking instrumentality and, successful immoderate concern models, GPUs,” BlocksBridge said.

It remains to beryllium seen whether Bitcoin’s latest terms betterment volition supply alleviation for companies that inactive support sizable mining operations.

Bitcoin has surged much than 13% this week and climbed backmost supra $72,000 aft the US Treasury said it would astatine slightest treble the maximum size of its long-term enslaved buybacks to $4 cardinal per operation, a determination aimed astatine improving liquidity successful the Treasury marketplace that initially pushed yields little and boosted hazard appetite.

In a motion of the pivot to AI and HPC, CoinShares this week announced a alteration successful strategy for its manufacture tracking exchange-traded fund.

Now branded the CoinShares Bitcoin Mining and Digital Power ETF (WGMI), with $222.4 cardinal successful assets nether management, the fund’s beingness includes 29 holdings drawn from bitcoin miners, information halfway operators, AI semiconductors, powerfulness generation, and HPC, which Coinshares describes arsenic “the businesses powering the integer economy.”

Related: Crypto Biz: Bitcoin’s $116M self-custody wake-up call

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