Bitcoin miners transition to AI infrastructure amid falling profits

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Many large public mining companies in the U.S. (and beyond) are moving away from a model focused almost exclusively on cryptocurrency mining. They have repurposed their operations to develop infrastructure for artificial intelligence initiatives and high-performance computing (HPC). Leading players include IREN (formerly Iris Energy), HUT 8, TerraWulf, Riot Platforms, Bitdeer, and Cipher Digital.

Increasing mining costs

Any business, including mining, must primarily generate profit. The bitcoin mining market has faced certain challenges in achieving profitability following the 2024 halving and the decline in BTC price at the end of 2025.

According to the report by investment firm CoinShares, mining the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was unprofitable for public U.S. companies in the last quarter of last year. The average cost to mine one BTC reached $79,995, while the market price hovered around $70,000. At one point, TerraWulf’s cost to mine a single coin soared to $385,000. In other words, revenue failed to cover expenses entirely.

Equally telling data comes from the Bitcoin hash price index, which shows the expected daily revenue for a miner with one peta-hash per second of computational power. As of this August, the figure is near its historical lows at around $32—almost half of what it was a year ago, more than ten times lower than its 2021 peak, and over a hundred times lower than its 2017 peak. In short, year after year, the same computing power generates less income for miners.