Miners' Pivot Pays Off: Bitcoin's Hashrate Hand-Me-Downs Are Now an AI Gold Rush 🪙

Bitcoin mining stocks rallied on Monday after Hut 8 and IREN unveiled major artificial intelligence infrastructure deals, sharpening investor focus on miners transitioning into high-performance computing. IREN shares climbed around 15.7%, Cipher Digital, CleanSpark, Hut 8 and MARA Holdings each gained at least 11% in early trading.

IREN raised its year-end AI cloud annualized run-rate revenue target to more than $4 billion following $2.8 billion in new multi-year cloud services contracts with AI developers. The company said about 85% of its revised annualized AI cloud target is now under contract, with customers including Microsoft, Nvidia, Perplexity and Figure AI. Co-CEO Daniel Roberts said IREN plans to deliver 480 megawatts of AI cloud capacity in 2026, up from about 3 MW a year earlier, with 1.2 gigawatts targeted for 2027. IREN added that demand from hyperscalers, enterprises and AI developers continues to exceed available and planned capacity, and that recent customer agreements include prepayments covering about 45% of the associated GPU capital expenditures.

The rally followed Hut 8's announcement of a 15-year, $9.8 billion lease for its AI data center campus. The Energy Mag's TEM AI Infrastructure Growth Index, which tracks 20 companies spanning Bitcoin mining, neocloud and AI infrastructure, rose 1.4% on Monday and is up more than 12% over the past week. CoinShares Bitcoin Mining ETF (WGMI) gained 9.61% as other miners saw modest share gains, according to Yahoo Finance, with IREN stock representing 10.05% of the fund's assets, making it the fourth-largest holding.

The moves in mining equities coincided with a broader recovery in technology shares, as the Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.9% by midday. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index climbed 2% after entering a technical bear market last week, defined as a decline of 20% or more from its recent high. The update follows Bernstein's April assessment that IREN's AI cloud business would become its primary revenue driver as the company repurposes mining infrastructure for AI computing.

Bitcoin mining stocks have experienced sharp volatility this year as companies contend with a weak $BTC mining environment while pivoting toward AI infrastructure. According to Blocksbridge Consulting, insider sales at TeraWulf, Riot Platforms, Core Scientific and Cipher Mining have drawn investor attention, though the transactions were executed under prearranged trading plans. Blocksbridge estimates the industry will require another $50 billion to realize its AI ambitions, with IREN facing the largest funding gap at roughly $21.1 billion.