Bitcoin Miners Poised To Benefit From AI Infrastructure Boom, Bernstein Says
Bitcoin miners are poised to benefit from the boom around artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure due to their pre-secured, high-density power capacity, according to research firm Bernstein.
Analysts led by Gautam Chhugani argued in an Oct. 10 report that Bitcoin miners’ power advantage positions the firms as critical infrastructure partners for AI providers who are facing long interconnection delays and rising energy grid congestion.
In the report, the analysts noted that Bitcoin miners have secured access to over 14 gigawatts of grid-connected power. A large portion of this supply is in regions with surplus renewable energy.
With the connections that Bitcoin miners already have to the grid, AI providers could end up cutting the amount of time it takes to deploy their datacenters by as much as 75%, the analysts argued.
Leading Bitcoin Miner IREN Perfectly Placed To Capture Demand
Bernstein said the largest Bitcoin miner by market cap, IREN, is its top pick to benefit from the energy demands from AI providers.
The miner already controls approximately 3 gigawatts of operation and under-development power capacity in North America. It has also been one of the fastest Bitcoin miners to capitalize on the AI opportunity in multiple ways, the analysts added.
For instance, IREN has acquired more than 23,300 GPUs, which include NVIDIA’s latest Blackwell models. The Bernstein analysts also expect IREN’s AI operations to achieve a more than $500 million in annualized revenue run-rate by the first quarter of next year.
Central to that expansion, according to the analysts, is IREN’s upcoming 50-megawatt liquid-cooled data center and a 2-gigawatt Sweetwater hub in Texas.
Even though IREN has expanded into AI, it still remains one of the biggest self-operated Bitcoin miners in the US. Its estimated 50 EH/s of hash power generates the firm approximately $1.1 billion in annualized revenue and about $650 million in EBITDA at currency BTC prices.
Earlier this year, Bernstein had raised its price target for IREN’s stock to 75%. In the latest report, the analysts reiterated this bullish outlook and rated the stock as “outperform.”
In the past 24 hours, IREN’s shares have pumped over 6%, data from Google Finance shows.
IREN share price (Source: Google Finance)
Year-to-date (YTD), the company’s share price is up more than 550%.
Total Market Cap For Crypto Miners Nears $90 Billion
IREN isn’t the only Bitcoin miner that has seen its stock rise recently, as rivals also pivot their operations toward AI and high-performance computing (HPC).
Competitor TeraWulf (WULF) has seen its stock climb another 5% in pre-marker trading after a 10% surge yesterday. This has brought its gain to 150% so far this year.
Similarly, Cipher Mining (CIFR), CleanSpark (CLSK), and Bitfarms (BITF) are all trading 2-4% higher in pre-market trading.
With the recent stock gains, the total market capitalization for crypto miners is nearing the $90 billion mark, data from Farside Investors shows.
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