Recent reports show that major bitcoin miners are rapidly moving into the AI business. Companies are selling mined BTC to cover expenses, gradually getting rid of ASIC equipment, and investing more and more money into GPU and AI infrastructure.
Miners’ shift to AI has been discussed for months, but now the scale has become much more noticeable. While mining profitability is falling, demand for artificial intelligence capacity continues to grow. Against this backdrop, many companies are increasingly shifting their focus from bitcoin mining to AI data centers and cloud computing.
MARA to Invest $1.5 Billion in Gas Power Plant
On April 30, MARA Holdings announced the acquisition of energy company Long Ridge Energy & Power from FTAI Infrastructure for $1.5 billion. The deal amount also includes about $785 million in debt obligations.
With the asset, MARA receives a 505 MW gas power plant in Hannibal, Ohio, as well as more than 1,600 acres of industrial land. There, MARA plans to build a large data center cluster.
MARA CEO Fred Thiel told Reuters that the site is perfect for AI data centers
“Everything needed for a full-fledged data center is here,” he said.
According to Thiel, the site is already attracting interest from major AI companies seeking capacity for cloud services and computing. MARA expects to find a tenant by around the time the deal closes in 2026.
On May 7, the company also initiated a process to approve changes to Long Ridge‘s $600 million in debt obligations. This is necessary due to the terms of the old debt agreement after the change of ownership.
Currently, MARA holds 38,689 BTC on its balance sheet. According to BitcoinTreasuries.net, this is the largest bitcoin reserve among all public mining companies.
BTC miners are selling crypto to pivot to AI. Source: BitcoinTreasuries.net.
IREN Swaps ASIC Miners for Blackwell GPUs and Moves to AI
In the third quarter of fiscal year 2026, IREN earned $144.8 million. This is significantly less than the previous quarter, when the company's revenue was $184.7 million.
At the same time, IREN is increasingly moving into the AI business. Based on already signed contracts, IREN expects to receive about $3.1 billion per year. By the end of the year, the company wants to increase this figure to $3.7 billion.
One of the largest deals for IREN was a five-year agreement with NVIDIA for $3.4 billion. Under the agreement, NVIDIA will supply the company with Blackwell GPUs with air cooling for AI clouds.
See Also: Stablecoins: What's Behind Them and Why 'Stable' Is Not Always Accurate
The equipment will be installed in the IREN data center in Childress, Texas. The launch is planned for early 2027. The project has already been allocated 60 MW of existing capacity.
In addition, IREN signed a strategic partnership with NVIDIA for 5 GW. The companies plan to jointly develop infrastructure for AI data centers at IREN energy sites.
Co-founder and IREN CEO Daniel Roberts says the market is currently facing a shortage of capacity for AI.
“There is simply a shortage of available data centers and GPUs right now. Demand far exceeds supply,” he said.
Smaller Miners Also Selling BTC and Moving to AI
Smaller mining companies are also starting to get rid of their bitcoin reserves and switch to AI infrastructure.
DMG Blockchain Solutions reported that in April it mined 21 BTC compared to 23 BTC the previous month.
At the same time, the company launched a new division, DMG Infrastructure. Now the company wants to use the Christina Lake data center for AI and high-performance computing.
DMG CEO Sheldon Bennett says the company benefits from cheap electricity. Currently, DMG purchases electricity at wholesale rates from 3.5 to 5 Canadian cents per kilowatt-hour. In a weak BTC market, this gives the miner a significant advantage.
Meanwhile, Bitdeer has completely disposed of its own bitcoin reserves. The company mined 193.8 BTC and immediately sold the entire amount.
See Also: Prediction Markets Reach $25.7 Billion a Month. Users Keep Coming Back
Cango Inc., which, according to BitcoinTreasuries.net, still holds 1,026 BTC on its balance sheet, officially launched the AI division EcoHash in April.
Previously, the company sold bitcoins worth $305 million to pay off debts and clean up its balance sheet before moving into AI services and computing.
The Numbers Speak for Themselves
All these reports show one simple thing: making money from bitcoin mining is getting harder and harder. Margins keep falling, but demand for AI infrastructure, on the contrary, is rising sharply.
AI contracts are already bringing companies deals worth billions of dollars, and the main clients are large cloud providers who need capacity for AI services.
The scale of this transition is becoming more and more serious. IREN plans to reach 1,210 MW of capacity by 2027. MARA is buying a 505 MW gas power plant. DMG is completely repurposing an entire data center for AI tasks.
It seems that many miners are already betting on AI rather than further expanding BTC mining. And, apparently, this is just the beginning.
