Bitcoin miners need roughly $50 billion to finish their AI pivot

Public Bitcoin miners have spent the past few years making a bet: the power they secured for mining could be worth more if it ran artificial intelligence workloads instead. Now the bill for that idea is coming into focus. The sector needs approximately $50 billion in near-term capital to complete its planned AI and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure, according to data from Blocksbridge Consulting and reports from VanEck. Who needs the money The shortfall is far from evenly spread. A handful of companies account for most of it, and one name stands well above the rest. IREN is expected to face the largest gap of any public miner, at about $21.1 billion. Riot Platforms follows with a projected shortfall of $7.2 billion. HIVE Digital rounds out the top three with an estimated gap of $4.6 billion. IREN’s number looks large partly because its ambitions are large. The company has secured a $9.7 billion contract with Microsoft spanning five years. It is also guiding capital expenditures of $25-30 billion for fiscal year 2027. Why miners are making this move at all The pivot traces back to the economics of Bitcoin mining after the 2024 halving. Halvings cut the reward miners re...