AI data centers taking over?

[SeriouslyGiveaway]

Is data center now a profitable business compared to mining Bitcoin? This is not funny anymore because many big Bitcoin miners are leaving mining business for data center, I don't see anyone talking about it but behind the scenes its happening big time, I mean fast.

I read some comments about this on twitter aka X and some are already saying that AI data center is generating more profits, what do you think will be the fate of bitcoin mining if AI data centers become more profitable than Bitcoin over time?

AI growth is in its blossom time but soon it will come to saturated time and only at this point, you can see AI growth is different than Bitcoin growth. There will be more new players in AI industry that will make the market share for each shrinks smaller while with Bitcoin, more new companies and people join this market will make limited bitcoins in both total supply and circulating supply become more valuable.

In both industries, companies and people will have to fight against each other but with AI, the more severe the fight is, the less reward for each while in contrast, with Bitcoin the more severe competitiveness, the higher value Bitcoin has.

People can try to debunk FUDs against Bitcoin energy and see how ironically AI data centers don't have to face with such negative information.
https://bitcoincleanup.com/

[Delaforetnoire]

There is a saying " A sacred place is never empty", which means that others will always be willing to take the place of those who leave a particular field of activity. If some people start focusing on AI data centers instead of bitcoin mining, new participants will come to take their place in mining. Moreover, these two activities can be done in parallel, which is likely what those who previously focused only on bitcoin mining will start doing.

This is how the world works, everything moves in a cycle and keeps repeating in that same pattern.

Technology is moving forward and that’s why we can see AI getting a lot of attention now and making many things easier. Even though many people have stopped mining Bitcoin, its continuity will still go on. At the same time, data centers are becoming more popular nowadays.

[d5000]

In general I see absolutely no problem with AI "capturing" some of the data center power that was used for mining. The difficulty mechanism works as always. For mining companies, it may also be a good way to diversify if the Bitcoin price gets too low and difficulty hasn't adjusted enough yet. Bitcoin's security is high enough, it may even be too high actually, due to the mining bubble of the last 2-3 years which made big mining companies invest too much in mining hardware. A continuation of the slight difficulty decrease we've seen since late 2025 would help existing miners a bit, even if in the longer term the relation between profits and difficulty would return to an equilibrium.

However, I see also a high likelihood for the AI boom at least to cool down a bit. I don't know if it's really a "bubble", because LLMs and diffusion models (graphics/music) are a powerful technology. And thus I expect their usage actually to grow some years more.

But the extreme "takeover" scenarios ("we will not need to work anymore in 2028" or even "AI bots will kill all humans in 2030"), which are of course obvious marketing stunts, are even further away from reality as many think.

LLM power increase is for example slowing down (see articles like this one). Their basic flaws like hallucinations are not easy to remove. And thus, even if they can replace some work, the growing suspicion that they will "not" replace most work in the next decade will make lose the AI boom steam, perhaps already in 2026. And then profit margins for AI datacenters will decrease, and it will make Bitcoin mining more attractive (in relative terms) again.

[stompix]

Source for this claim?

This iss what I could see online about it:

AI data centers now want the same power, but they pay much more for it. Industry estimates show AI workloads generate about $25 per kilowatt-hour, while Bitcoin mining earns closer to $1. Utilities follow the money. When a power company chooses between a flexible Bitcoin miner and a 24/7 AI customer, the decision is simple.

Nope, no way, the author is out of his mind!
I can rent a H200 for $2.5 per hour, 64GB and 16vCPU, the card  draws 700w alone so with the additional it will come close to 1kw, that is 1kwh for $2.5
And this is a reseller for per-hour prices, buy it for 7 days and it drops to half the price.

No f way they are earning $25 per kWh consumed!

Phil's explanation of the excess capacity in power makes more sense than just those insane profits people throw around.

[ZaryBee]

AI data center very hot now, this is true. But miners just follow profit, if AI give more money per power, they move there, simple business, nothing special. But I dont think it replace bitcoin mining. If miners leave, difficulty go down and profit come back for others. This always happen, also not so easy to switch, different machines, different setup. So maybe short term pressure, but long term mining will be ok if btc still have value.

[Outhue]

AI data centers are currently a threat to bitcoin mining profitability due to competition for power infrastructure and driving up energy costs that lead mining companies to  turn into AI infrastructure providers instead.

Currently, AI workloads can offer profits 25x higher per kilowatt-hour compared to bitcoin mining. And its predicted that by the end of 2026, 70% income of the mining companies will be obtained from AI and high-performance computing (HPC) contracts.

However, this will also serve the ''lifeline'' for mining companies to stay in profits through offering rentals of their pre-built infrastructures and power access to AI.

No I refuse to accept, I wouldn't consider it a threat to mining profitability, because mining rewards are already shrinking since few years now due to too many miners mining Bitcoin, it's very hard to make profits mining Bitcoin today, so if these companies start to abandon Bitcoin mining for data centres I believe it will help alot.

Before the mining difficulty of bitcoin gets this big, bitcoin has always been profitable, them quitting will definitely bring a new breath to Bitcoin network, there is no single threat here at all, even small miners will have a new fresh air to breath at last, it's all good with how everyone this plays out.

[retreat]

I read some comments about this on twitter aka X and some are already saying that AI data center is generating more profits, what do you think will be the fate of bitcoin mining if AI data centers become more profitable than Bitcoin over time?

Based on what's happening in the industry right now, providing AI infrastructure looks more promising than Bitcoin mining. Because of this, several Bitcoin mining companies are shifting to the AI ​​industry by selling their Bitcoin to fund the transition. After all, these miners are businesses, and their goal is to make money, so they will seek out the most profitable industries.

But this isn't the end of the world for Bitcoin mining. Even if these miners leave, some players will remain, as Bitcoin remains profitable - it would even be more profitable for them if more people left as the difficulty level adjusts.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Something to keep in mind is that all mega AI data centers are liquid cooled. If a mine if already using liquid cooled miners it is not hard to pull out miner racks, put in ones for AI GPU's and run new connections to power and cooling systems. Big bonus is that they already have all the infra and zoning permits in place.

Lots of new mega data centers being built or planned are facing strong community backlash that is often based on very incorrect concerns. One that U of M is/was planning near Ann Arbor MI is being fought against because it may be used for nuclear weapons simulations...

[uchegod-21]

I read some comments about this on twitter aka X and some are already saying that AI data center is generating more profits, what do you think will be the fate of bitcoin mining if AI data centers become more profitable than Bitcoin over time?

Based on what's happening in the industry right now, providing AI infrastructure looks more promising than Bitcoin mining. Because of this, several Bitcoin mining companies are shifting to the AI ​​industry by selling their Bitcoin to fund the transition. After all, these miners are businesses, and their goal is to make money, so they will seek out the most profitable industries.

But this isn't the end of the world for Bitcoin mining. Even if these miners leave, some players will remain, as Bitcoin remains profitable - it would even be more profitable for them if more people left as the difficulty level adjusts.

I do not even believe that these miners are actually abandoning Bitcoin mining to focus solely on earning from AI. Mining is capital intensive, and if you are thinking what I am thinking right now, the thoughts ringing in your head would be that they just want to diversify so they can earn from both ways, while the profit from one side augments that of the other. It is never a threat, as both are already coexisting without any clash.

Secondly, AI data centers are the new wave for now, so it is not out of place for people to try to join the trend and benefit while it is still hot. Bitcoin miners are not forbidden from earning from sources other than Bitcoin. I see diversifying into AI infrastructure as a strategic move not meant to undermine Bitcoin mining.

[Patikno]

There is a saying " A sacred place is never empty", which means that others will always be willing to take the place of those who leave a particular field of activity. If some people start focusing on AI data centers instead of bitcoin mining, new participants will come to take their place in mining. Moreover, these two activities can be done in parallel, which is likely what those who previously focused only on bitcoin mining will start doing.

Just like the saying "where there is sugar, there are ants". I interpret it as an opportunity that will never be wasted. As far as I know, if some people switch from Bitcoin mining, it will cause the Bitcoin hashrate to decrease, and the mining difficulty level to decrease. So, there will always be new miners who will take advantage of this opportunity, or maybe the previous miners will also return once the AI ​​data centers are no longer profitable. I guess that could happen, right?

I think the "difficulty adjustment" in Bitcoin mechanism is very well planned, and it is really impressive to see such a brilliant idea could be a solution to the shortage of miners. So, validators will always be there to mine. Cmiiw.