Institution: AI Data Center Demand May Drive Bitcoin Mining Firm Reassessment, Announces Over $90 Billion Collaboration

May 19 – Research firm Bernstein released a report today noting that as demand for AI data centers skyrockets, Bitcoin mining companies are emerging as critical players in large-scale computing power infrastructure – and the analyst team is bullish on firms like IREN, Riot Platforms, CleanSpark, and Core Scientific. The report highlights that major cloud providers, AI service platforms, and chip manufacturers have already announced over $90 billion in AI infrastructure partnerships, totaling roughly 3.7 gigawatts (GW) of power capacity. Bernstein frames "following the gigawatts" as the core of the AI infrastructure competition, pointing out that the massive power resources mining companies control hold major strategic value here. Analysts gave the four named firms an "Outperform" rating. For IREN, the target price is set at $100, representing a roughly 98% upside from current trading levels. CleanSpark’s target price is $24, translating to an approximate 78% growth potential. Currently, Bitcoin mining companies collectively control over 27GW of planned power capacity. In some U.S. regions, securing 1GW of power access can take up to 50 months – making existing mining facilities key sites for AI data center expansion, per the report. Bernstein also called out specific AI collaboration projects: IREN is building a 5GW AI computing power park on NVIDIA’s AI Factory architecture, while Riot is partnering with AMD on a potential 200MW AI data center initiative. That said, analysts warned the industry faces notable hurdles: environmental review processes, grid capacity limits, and regulatory approvals. Another risk: if mining companies shift too much of their computing power to AI, they could miss out on future gains during Bitcoin’s bull market cycle.