Analysis: AI Computing Power Competes for Electricity Resources, Bitcoin Miners Transition to Renting Computing Power for More Stable Earnings

On April 7, CoinDesk reported that AI infrastructure development is emerging as one of the biggest sources of new electricity demand in the U.S. — a trend unfolding as Bitcoin miners grapple with a key choice: keep mining or lease their infrastructure to AI firms. This shift is growing increasingly clear. Core Scientific has shifted most of its mining hash rate to AI hosting services via a partnership with CoreWeave. Iris Energy and Hut 8 have also expanded revenue from AI and high-performance computing (HPC). Last week, Riot Platforms, MARA Holdings, and Genius Group disclosed selling more than 19,000 bitcoins — a sign that relying solely on mining economics is no longer sustainable for operations amid current prices and record-high network difficulty. A Bitcoin miner running 1 gigawatt of hash rate would see revenue swing with Bitcoin’s price and network difficulty. But leasing that same 1 gigawatt to an AI firm generates predictable income tied to contract terms. With Bitcoin trading at $69,000, network difficulty at an all-time high, and energy costs climbing as other industrial users vie for the same grid capacity, renting hash rate to AI often yields higher returns. That said, Bitcoin mining isn’t dying out: the network hash rate keeps hitting new records above 1 zetahash per second. Still, miners surviving this cycle may no longer look like energy producers focused on Bitcoin mining — instead, they’re evolving into infrastructure firms: mining Bitcoin on the side while leasing their core asset (large-scale, low-cost electricity) to AI companies that can’t quickly build data centers.