2026

Core

Bitcoin

Billion

<h2 id="tldr">TLDR</h2>
<ul>
 <li>Nine public Bitcoin miners spent $5.11 billion on capital assets in the first half of 2026 but reported only $341.2 million in AI and HPC revenue.</li>
 <li>AI and HPC revenue reached $205.8 million in the second quarter, up 52% from the first quarter.</li>
 <li>A wider group of 15 miners and data center companies spent $30.7 billion, up 42.6% from all of 2025.</li>
 <li>CoreWeave and Nebius together accounted for nearly three-quarters of that $30.7 billion total.</li>
 <li>CoinShares expanded its WGMI fund to cover miners, data centers, chipmakers and power producers.</li>
</ul>
Public Bitcoin miners are pouring money into artificial intelligence infrastructure, but the revenue is not catching up yet. <a href="https://www.minerweekly.com/p/307-billion-miners-and-ai-peers-already" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">A new analysis from BlocksBridge</a> Consulting shows the scale of the gap.
Nine public miners spent $5.11 billion on capital assets during the first half of 2026. Their combined AI and high performance computing revenue reached just $341.2 million over the same period.
That works out to roughly 15 dollars spent for every dollar of AI revenue collected. The figure covers hardware, property and equipment purchases, not just AI-related spending alone.
<h2 id="a-costly-shift-to-ai-infrastructure">A Costly Shift to AI Infrastructure</h2>
Mining companies already have land, electricity contracts and grid connections. Those assets give them a head start, but they are not enough on their own.
BlocksBridge said converting mining sites into AI-ready facilities takes substations, cooling systems, networking gear and sometimes GPUs. That work requires financing well before any tenant starts paying.
Core Scientific is one example. The company spent $797.5 million on capital assets in the second quarter while reporting $136.7 million in colocation revenue, up from $77.5 million the prior quarter.
Core Scientific said it was billing customers for 437 megawatts of capacity by mid July. It also signed agreements with AMD that could cover about 530 megawatts across five sites.
TeraWulf has leaned further into data center leasing. HPC revenue overtook Bitcoin mining revenue at the company during the first quarter of 2026, <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1839341/000183934126000013/q22026corescientificinc-ea.htm?utm_source=chatgpt.com" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">according to its filings.</a>
Looking at the wider industry, 15 miners and AI data center firms spent $30.7 billion in their latest 2026 reporting periods. That is 42.6% higher than the $21.53 billion spent across all of 2025.
<h2 id="revenue-is-growing-but-slowly">Revenue Is Growing, But Slowly</h2>
CoreWeave and Nebius made up most of that $30.7 billion figure. CoreWeave spent $14.12 billion on property and equipment in the first half, already above its full 2025 total.
Nebius spent $8.13 billion over the same period, roughly double its 2025 spending. The company said the money went mostly toward GPUs and data center expansion.
Revenue at both companies is growing too. CoreWeave’s second quarter revenue rose 24% to $2.58 billion, while Nebius posted $582.3 million, up 46% from the first quarter.
Other miners are funding the shift differently. MARA Holdings sold $1.5 billion of Bitcoin during the first quarter to support its infrastructure buildout.
HIVE has taken a smaller approach. Its HPC revenue grew 94% to $19.5 million in its 2026 financial year, though Bitcoin mining still brings in most of its income.
The shift has reached investment funds too. CoinShares renamed its WGMI fund to include data centers, AI chipmakers and power producers alongside Bitcoin miners.
The fund held 29 companies and about $225.6 million in assets as of August 18. It must put at least 80% of its assets into companies tied to this broader mining and computing theme.
The next stretch will show whether miners can deliver capacity on schedule and turn signed contracts into steady revenue. For now, the money going out still far outpaces the money coming in.
The post <a href="https://blockonomi.com/bitcoin-miners-spend-5-1-billion-chasing-ai-revenue-in-2026/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bitcoin Miners Spend $5.1 Billion Chasing AI Revenue in 2026</a> appeared first on <a href="https://blockonomi.com" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Blockonomi</a>.

Bitcoin Miners Spend $5.1 Billion Chasing AI Revenue in 2026

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