"Turn off mining machines, activate AI"...Industry-wide bankruptcies begin due to 10x profit difference

▲ Bitcoin (BTC) Mining/AI Generated Image

As the artificial intelligence (AI) industry experiences explosive growth, competition to secure power for Bitcoin mining infrastructure is intensifying. Mining companies are accelerating their transition beyond existing business structures to AI data centers, reorganizing their survival strategies.

According to a report by virtual asset specialized media The Street on April 10 (local time), Bitcoin (BTC) mining farms, capable of immediately securing large-scale power, have emerged as a key target for global tech companies due to the soaring demand for AI computing. Major mining companies such as Bitdeer are actively exploring options to convert existing mining facilities into AI data centers or lease their infrastructure. The hosting business for AI computing is evaluated as significantly more profitable than mining, emerging as a new revenue stream.

Mining farms already possess large-scale power grids and cooling systems, making the transition to AI infrastructure relatively easy. In particular, training large language models requires enormous amounts of power, leading AI companies to secure facilities capable of supplying power, even at a premium. This trend is expected to act as a significant variable impacting hashrate, a key indicator of the Bitcoin network.

Large mining companies like Marathon Digital Holdings and Iris Energy are already making aggressive investments in building AI-specific infrastructure. This is interpreted as a strategy to compensate for reduced mining rewards after the halving and secure stable cash flow. From the perspective of mining companies, expanding into the AI business is seen as reducing risks associated with price volatility and providing a favorable structure for attracting institutional investors.

However, this transition also entails changes in market structure. There is a possibility that the industry concentration will increase as small and medium-sized mining companies, unable to compete for power, are weeded out. Simultaneously, as both AI and mining industries strain the power grid, regulatory intervention is also expanding.

In the market, the criteria for evaluating mining companies themselves are changing. They are being reclassified not merely as virtual asset-related companies but as high-performance computing infrastructure companies, and their stock prices are also reacting sensitively to the expansion of their AI businesses. As capital from the virtual asset and AI industries combines, the mining industry has entered a new phase of technological evolution and business diversification.

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