Bye-bye bitcoin, hello AI: Texas miners leave crypto for next new wave
Summary
"Data centers are rapidly evolving to support modern AI workloads, requiring new levels of high density rack space, direct-to-chip liquid cooling and unprecedented overall energy demands," said Chase Lochmiller, Crusoes co-founder and CEO. Mining firms have expansive data centers, with access to fiber lines and large amounts of power across the U.S. Theyre exactly the types of facilities needed for compute-intensive AI operations, which means their sites and technology are in high demand. JPMorgan Chase analysts wrote in a report in June that "some operators are feeling the financial pinch from the recent block reward halving, which cut industry revenues in half, and are actively exploring exit strategies." On Tuesday, B. Riley upgraded its stock to buy from neutral and raised its price target on shares to $13 from $0.50, citing the companys recent spate of deals with CoreWeave, an Nvidia-backed startup thats one of the main providers of the chipmakers technology for running AI models. In the next one to two years, Needham analysts estimate that large publicly traded bitcoin miners are expected to more than double power capacity, including both their mining and HPC business expansion plans.