Anthropic has announced a landmark partnership with Google and Broadcom for multiple gigawatts of next-generation computing capacity, slated to come online starting in 2027. This significant commitment marks the company's largest to date, with revenue growth accelerating to a $30 billion annual run rate from $9 billion at the end of 2025. The substantial scale of AI computing demand now directly competes with bitcoin mining for the same limited resources, including grid connections, land permits, cooling infrastructure, and affordable electricity. According to estimates, bitcoin mining globally consumes approximately 13 to 25 gigawatts of continuous power, depending on hardware efficiency.
Anthropic's securing of multiple gigawatts from this single deal, in addition to its existing capacity across various platforms, highlights the rapid emergence of AI as a major competitor for the same energy infrastructure relied upon by miners. This trend is further exemplified by other companies, such as OpenAI, which is building a wide infrastructure portfolio spanning multiple cloud providers and chip platforms. The aggregate AI compute buildout has become one of the largest sources of new electricity demand in the United States, coinciding with bitcoin miners' decisions on whether to mine bitcoin or rent their infrastructure to AI companies. Increasingly, this decision is favoring the latter, as evidenced by Core Scientific's conversion of significant mining capacity to AI hosting and other companies' expansion into AI and high-performance computing revenue.
The economics of mining are becoming less sustainable, with many companies opting to sell their bitcoin holdings. In contrast, renting infrastructure to AI companies offers a contracted rate with predictable cash flows, often proving more lucrative. While bitcoin mining is not disappearing, the industry may evolve, with surviving miners potentially transitioning into infrastructure companies that mine bitcoin while renting their primary asset – affordable power at scale – to the rapidly expanding AI industry.