Bitcoin mining stocks are significantly outperforming Bitcoin itself as investors increasingly focus on the potential of these companies to pivot towards Artificial Intelligence (AI). This trend reflects a broader recognition of AI's transformative potential within the digital asset space, as well as the need for Bitcoin miners to diversify their revenue streams following the 2024 halving event, which reduced block rewards.
Several Bitcoin mining stocks have experienced substantial rallies in September 2025, outpacing Bitcoin's performance despite the pressure on industry fundamentals. Cipher Mining (CIFR), Terawulf (WULF), Iris Energy (IREN), Hive Digital Technologies (HIVE), and Bitfarms (BITF) have seen their shares surge between 73% and 124% over the past month, while Bitcoin has slipped by over 3% during the same period. This surge has propelled several of these stocks to yearly or all-time highs.
The shift towards AI is largely driven by the declining profitability of Bitcoin mining due to rising energy costs, hardware depreciation, and the halving event. AI workloads offer a compelling alternative, generating significantly more revenue per kilowatt-hour compared to Bitcoin mining, despite the higher upfront investments required for GPU clusters and cooling systems. Some reports indicate that AI workloads can generate up to 25 times more revenue per kilowatt-hour than Bitcoin mining.
Bitcoin miners are adopting different strategies in their AI pivot. Some are repurposing existing rigs, raising capital, and signing substantial deals to lease out data centers to AI firms. Core Scientific, for instance, emerged from bankruptcy in early 2024 by shifting from a pure Bitcoin miner to a colocation service provider, securing a 12-year, $3.5 billion deal with CoreWeave to host its high-performance computing (HPC) operations. Other miners are deploying specialized chips like Nvidia H100 GPUs to drive cloud-based AI compute services. Hive Digital is accelerating its transition into AI data center infrastructure, Iris Energy is ramping up with Blackwell GPUs, and Terawulf has drawn momentum from its high-performance computing partnership with Google.
This strategic valuation divergence is evident in the market's willingness to pay a premium for miners actively involved in AI/HPC. Companies like Core Scientific and TeraWulf, which have successfully executed AI pivots, command higher enterprise value per exahash (EV/EH/s) multiples, reflecting strong investor confidence in their AI infrastructure. In contrast, pure-play Bitcoin miners trade at a discount.
The AI in mining market is projected to reach $435.94 billion by 2032, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 40.6%. Since January 2025, companies with AI infrastructure have outperformed pure-play Bitcoin miners by an average of 127%. This outperformance is attributed to the stability of AI contracts and the compounding value of GPU-as-a-Service models.
Despite the promising outlook, challenges remain. The transition to AI/HPC infrastructure requires significant capital investment, technical expertise, and talent acquisition. Investors are prioritizing companies that demonstrate the ability to repurpose their infrastructure, secure AI tenants, and diversify their revenue streams.
