Analysis: AI Computing Power Competes for Energy Resources, Bitcoin Miners Transition to Leasing Power for Stable Returns

On April 7, CoinDesk reported that AI computing power construction is becoming one of the largest sources of new electricity demand in the United States. This trend coincides with a critical moment for Bitcoin miners: whether to continue mining or lease their infrastructure to AI companies. This trend is becoming increasingly evident. Core Scientific has converted most of its mining power into AI hosting services through a partnership with CoreWeave. Iris Energy and Hut 8 have also expanded their AI and high-performance computing (HPC) revenue. Riot Platforms, MARA Holdings, and Genius Group disclosed last week that they sold over 19,000 Bitcoins, indicating that relying solely on mining economics has become unsustainable at current prices and network difficulty. A Bitcoin miner operating at 1 gigawatt of power will see its income fluctuate with Bitcoin prices and network difficulty. In contrast, leasing the same 1 gigawatt of power to AI companies can yield predictable cash flow based on contract terms. Given that Bitcoin prices reached $69,000, network difficulty hit historical highs, and energy costs rose as all other industrial users compete for the same grid capacity, the returns from leasing power to AI are often higher. However, this does not mean that Bitcoin mining is dying. Network computing power continues to set records above 1 zetahash/s. Yet, miners surviving in the current cycle may no longer resemble energy companies focused on Bitcoin production; instead, they are becoming infrastructure companies—mining Bitcoin on the side while leasing their true asset—large-scale cheap electricity—to the AI industry, which cannot quickly build data centers.