Miners Shift to AI as Profitability Reaches 3x Bitcoin Mining Returns; 35 EH/s Hashrate Planned for Exit

Bitcoin miners are increasingly shifting their operations toward artificial intelligence and high-performance computing (HPC) as AI-related profitability reaches approximately three times the returns from traditional Bitcoin mining, according to a report released on September 15, 2026. The trend has accelerated in recent months as Bitcoin's price volatility and rising energy costs have squeezed mining margins, while demand for AI computing power has exploded. Several major miners have announced plans to repurpose their existing data center infrastructure and power contracts for AI workloads, with approximately 35 EH/s of Bitcoin hashrate—roughly 5% of the global network—planned for exit over the coming months. Companies like Core Scientific (CORZ) and IREN (IREN) have been at the forefront of this pivot, signing multi-year contracts with AI cloud providers and GPU rental platforms. CORZ shares fell 2.42% and IREN dropped 4.46% on the day, reflecting broader market weakness rather than a negative reaction to the strategic shift. The migration of mining infrastructure to AI represents a significant reallocation of capital and resources within the crypto ecosystem, with implications for Bitcoin's network security and hash rate distribution. For content creators, this is a critical story about the evolving economics of Bitcoin mining and the growing competition for computing resources between the crypto and AI industries.
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