Bitcoin Miners Flee to AI Data Centers Amid Rising Costs

Bitcoin miners are shifting their focus from cryptocurrency mining to artificial intelligence (AI) data centers and high-performance computing due to rising costs and limited grid access. According to a recent report, listed miners' weighted average pretax cash cost reached around $75,500 per Bitcoin in the second quarter of 2026.

The June average hash price fell to $27.70 per petahash per second per day, its lowest level on record. This has put pressure on companies to adopt new business models that combine mining with data-center operations or replace mining altogether.

IREN plans to substantially complete its transition away from Bitcoin mining by December 31, 2026. Riot Platforms is pursuing a hybrid infrastructure strategy through a 20-year lease covering 191 megawatts of critical information-technology capacity at its Rockdale facility.

TeraWulf's second-quarter revenue totaled $44.8 million, including $31.9 million from high-performance computing leases, which accounted for about 71% of the company's quarterly revenue. Cipher Digital is also emphasizing industrial-scale data centers for hyperscalers and other high-performance computing customers while retaining Bitcoin mining as an interim or complementary use of its power.

Keel is taking a more direct exit path by selling BTC and stopping mining at its Washington site. The company sold 1,085 BTC for $75 million between April 1 and August 7 as part of its wind-down.