Bitcoin mining stocks that have repositioned themselves as providers of artificial intelligence infrastructure continued their strong run into the new year, and fresh signals from Big Tech suggest the rally may have further support.
Fourth-quarter earnings and forward guidance from Meta and Microsoft underscored that the AI investment cycle remains firmly intact. Meta said it expects capital expenditures in 2026 to total between $115 billion and $135 billion, well above market expectations near $110 billion. Microsoft likewise highlighted AI as a central pillar of its long-term growth strategy.
“We are still in the early innings of AI adoption,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said, adding that the company’s AI business has already grown larger than several of its established franchises. “We are advancing across the entire AI stack to unlock new value for customers and partners.”
For bitcoin miners, the sustained AI spending boom offers a critical tailwind. Following April’s halving, which reduced mining rewards by 50%, many operators faced margin pressure from rising competition and power costs. In response, several miners have repurposed their data centers to host AI and cloud-computing workloads, allowing them to diversify revenue and tap demand for high-performance computing.
That shift has translated into concrete partnerships. In November, Iren announced a multiyear agreement with Microsoft to support AI workloads using Nvidia chips, signaling a deeper move into high-performance computing. Around the same time, Cipher Mining signed a deal with Amazon to deliver 300 megawatts of capacity to Amazon Web Services, marking one of the largest AI-related infrastructure commitments by a bitcoin miner to date.
Investors have rewarded the strategy. Iren shares climbed nearly 5% on Wednesday, extending gains to 47% year-to-date and more than 500% over the past year. Cipher Mining is up 17% so far this year and roughly 320% year-over-year, while Hut 8, another miner with growing exposure to AI infrastructure, has risen 26% year-to-date and about 230% over the same period.
Attention now turns to Nvidia’s earnings report on Feb. 25, which is expected to provide a key signal on whether AI-driven capital spending—and the resulting opportunity for bitcoin miners—can be sustained.
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