Global electricity demand from AI data centers reached approximately 29.6 GW by the end of 2025, up roughly 200 times from 2022, creating zero-sum competition for grid capacity that Bitcoin miners cannot win on economics alone. US Bitcoin miners control over 27 GW of planned power capacity, and AI companies are willing to pay handsomely for access, signing contracts totaling between $70 billion and $90 billion for AI and HPC hosting. Bitcoin’s hashrate has declined 15-21% from its peak, dropping from over 1.14 ZH/s to between 868 and 900 EH/s, with public miners projecting AI could account for up to 70% of their revenue by end of 2026. VanEck estimates a $50 billion near-term funding gap for miners attempting this transition, with only about 25% of leased capacity actually delivered so far.
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