An analyst at Blockbridge Consulting, now rebranded as TheEnergyMag, said the long-anticipated crypto supercycle may instead be unfolding in AI infrastructure spending.
In the firm’s latest newsletter, analyst Wolfie Zhao described a “trillion-dollar build supercycle” centred on AI data centre expansion rather than digital asset markets.
While major US technology companies are expected to spend more than $600 billion collectively on AI this year, Zhao noted that Bitcoin mining firms with AI exposure are also sharply increasing capital expenditure.
IREN, formerly Iris Energy, reported roughly $800 million in net spending on property, plant and equipment in its most recent quarter, deploying more capital into AI data centres and GPU hardware than it spent over three years expanding its mining fleet after its IPO.
The pivot reflects mounting pressure on the mining industry following a sharp correction in Bitcoin, which fell from above $126,000 to below $60,000 in recent months, compressing margins and straining balance sheets.
Other miners including MARA Holdings, Riot Platforms, HIVE Digital Technologies and Bitdeer Technologies have similarly accelerated investments into high-performance computing and colocation services.
Industry executives argue that miners already control power capacity, land and data centre infrastructure that can be repurposed for AI workloads, positioning them to capitalise on what some believe is the true structural supercycle reshaping global technology investment.