Bernstein says Bitcoin mining deals necessary for AI power crunch
Bernstein remains overweight on Bitcoin mining, arguing that miners’ power access and infrastructure are becoming increasingly valuable to AI companies facing severe electricity and data center capacity bottlenecks. The firm says AI-related deals involving miners accelerated in July, with one new deal per week and more than 7.5 GW of combined capacity, equal to about $150 billion in multi-year contracts. Recent announcements from Hut 8 and IREN drove double-digit stock gains, while other miners such as MARA, TeraWulf, and Bitdeer have also expanded into AI and high-performance computing. Bernstein expects third-party computing providers to stay important as new US data center development faces political and regulatory resistance over electricity costs, water use, and local approval concerns.
