Bitcoin Miners Lose $1.5 Billion in Hardware as AI Pivot Takes Hold
The bitcoin mining industry has been undergoing a significant shift in recent months, with many operators redirecting their resources towards artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. According to a report by Blocksbridge Consulting, public bitcoin miners shed around $1.5 billion in equivalent hardware investment in the first half of 2026, even at an assumed acquisition price of just $20 per terahash (TH/s).
The report, which first appeared in the Miner Weekly newsletter, estimates that the lost hashrate corresponds to $1.5 billion in mining machines, excluding the buildings, electrical equipment, cooling, and installation needed to operate them. This represents a significant investment, with some sites marking down equipment within months of starting production, raising questions about how much of that investment mining can recover before AI takes over.
The accounting consequences of this transition are becoming visible, with a separate review by TheEnergyMag identifying approximately $1.1 billion in asset impairments and held-for-sale markdowns during the first half of 2026. IREN and Core Scientific (NASDAQ: CORZ) accounted for almost 89% of the total.
The spending surge on mining hardware was recent, with nearly $5 billion in equipment and infrastructure spending across the preceding reporting cycle. Companies that separately disclosed mining-hardware purchases accounted for more than $3 billion in 2024 alone, helping to push Bitcoin's network into zetahash territory in 2025.