Bitcoin miners turned to the rising AI trend ahead of the 2024 halving, which cut block rewards to 3.125 BTC. Some just dipped their toes in, while others dove deeper, repurposing rigs, raising credit and signing billion-dollar deals. In some instances, the move has been a lifeline that generates much-needed revenue as their Bitcoin earnings dropped. For others, it’s more of a safety net that can cushion future halving shocks. Core Scientific is among the biggest revival stories for Bitcoin miners whose AI pivot saved its struggling business. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late 2022. It emerged in early 2024 to relist on the Nasdaq, then shifted from a pure Bitcoin miner to a colocation service provider by leasing out data centers to AI firms. It signed a 12-year, $3.5-billion deal with CoreWeave in June 2024 to host CoreWeave’s high-performance computing (HPC) operations. Core Scientific reported its Q1 revenue fell to $79.5 million, down from $179.3 million a year earlier. It said that the Bitcoin halving reward slash and the operational shift to HPC hosting are the primary reasons for the revenue drop. A surge in Bitcoin’s price since the halving has offset some of the losses. In late June 2025, CoreWeave resumed talks to acquire Core Scientific. News of the renewed negotiations sent Core Scientific’s stock soaring.

Hut 8’s AI ambitions took real shape in September 2024, when the company formally launched its GPU-as-a-Service offering through a new subsidiary, Highrise AI. The pivot saw Hut 8 deploy over 1,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs to drive its cloud-based AI compute services. The launch came with a five-year fixed-payment and revenue-share deal as revenues for Bitcoin miners tightened following the April 2024 halving event. By Q1 2025, the company’s Bitcoin mining had produced 167 BTC, down from 716 BTC the year before. Though the company posted a quarterly net loss of $134.3 million, its CEO, Asher Genoot, said its financial performance was a result of deliberate investments that resulted in a 79% increase in its hashrate. It also holds 10,273 BTC, which is the ninth-largest publicly listed corporate Bitcoin treasury. AI remains a small part of Hut 8’s business model as the company continues to expand its Bitcoin business. Most recently, American Bitcoin, a majority-owned subsidiary of Hut 8, announced a $220-million raise to purchase Bitcoin mining equipment. The sons of US President Donald Trump are among the founders of American Bitcoin, of which Hut 8 acquired a majority stake in late March.

Bitcoin miners like Iren and Hive are starting to see meaningful revenue from AI, even if mining still dominates their books. In early 2024, Australian miner Iren began purchasing Nvidia GPUs. By February, it had signed its first AI contract powered by 248 GPUs. As of mid-2025, the company has deployed around 4,300 GPUs. In Q3 fiscal year 2025 (ended March 31), Iren mined 1,514 BTC, up from 1,232 BTC the previous quarter. Meanwhile, AI cloud revenue climbed 33% to $3.6 million. The company is also preparing a liquid-cooled AI data center in Texas and a purpose-built site in British Columbia, Canada, capable of housing up to 20,000 GPUs. Hive began its AI shift in mid-2023 with a rebrand from Hive Blockchain and a focus on Nvidia-powered compute clusters. After small-scale early deployments, Hive invested $30 million in December 2024 to roll out GPUs in Quebec, Canada. By mid-2025, it had over 5,000 units deployed. While many Bitcoin mining firms are leaning into AI and high-performance computing, ASIC manufacturer Canaan is heading in the opposite direction. In July 2025, the company announced it was shutting down its AI chip division. With just 2.1% of the global ASIC market, Canaan remains a small player compared to Bitmain or MicroBT. By focusing squarely on mining hardware and pursuing long-term resilience in North America, it’s carving a distinct path in a sector otherwise occupied from AI.