Bitcoin Miners Shift Power To AI As Anthropic Deals Grow
Companies that once mined Bitcoin are turning their computers toward artificial intelligence work instead. These firms built large warehouses full of computers to earn Bitcoin through a process called mining.
Mining rewards have dropped as the price of Bitcoin fell from its 2025 high. That drop has pushed several companies to rethink their business.
One Bitcoin was worth about $124,000 in October 2025. The price later fell sharply before climbing back to near $80,000 in August, a rise of almost 30 percent for the month.
Even with that rebound, some companies say switching back to mining is not simple. The change from mining to AI work involves costly infrastructure adjustments.
Why Miners Are Making The Switch
Bitcoin mining and AI systems both depend on large networks of powerful computers housed in data centers. Mining companies already know how to find cheap electricity and run big data centers efficiently.
That experience makes them attractive partners for AI companies. Anthropic is one firm spending billions of dollars on computing infrastructure to support its AI systems.
Riot Platforms signed a $9 billion deal with Anthropic that will run for 20 years. Bitdeer, which says it is the largest Bitcoin miner in the world, agreed to a 16 year deal to supply compute power to Anthropic.
Bitdeer's chief strategy officer, Haris Basit, said the company will keep mining Bitcoin alongside its AI work. He said Bitcoin mining fits well with a dual purpose model because it can be paused or restarted more easily than AI work.
Other companies mentioned in the shift include TerraWulf, Ionic Digital, Core Scientific, Iris Energy, Hut 8 and Applied Digital. Several have also changed their names or website language to reflect the move toward AI.
Applied Blockchain became Applied Digital. TerraWulf's website once called the firm an infrastructure focused Bitcoin mining company. It now describes itself as focused on next generation AI and high performance computing.
A Costly And Difficult Reversal
Enegix, a company that opened a large Bitcoin mine in Kazakhstan in 2020, is also moving toward AI work. Its chief executive, Yerbolsyn Sarsenov, said the company is planning to align its energy and infrastructure with AI development in Kazakhstan and other locations.
Enegix said it is in talks with AI and high performance computing companies. The firm plans to shift a large part of its business toward AI.
Refitting a mining site for AI work costs money. Some companies have sold parts of their Bitcoin holdings to help pay for the change.
Wolfie Zhao, who writes for The Energy Mag, a publication that renamed itself from The Miner Mag, said the shift will likely continue. He expects public mining companies to keep reducing their Bitcoin mining hardware in coming quarters.
Zhao said long term computing leases make it hard for companies to return to Bitcoin mining once they switch. He explained that once multi gigawatt power infrastructure is retrofitted for AI or data center use, there is no turning back.
He added that a company can stop Bitcoin mining at any time, but signing a computing lease for 10 or 20 years creates a long term commitment to keep facilities running for AI clients.
The trend shows no signs of slowing even as Bitcoin's price has climbed in recent days.
