Anthropic has announced a significant partnership with Google and Broadcom to secure multiple gigawatts of next-generation computing capacity, slated to come online starting in 2027. This commitment marks the company's largest to date, as revenue growth accelerates to a $30 billion annual run rate from $9 billion at the end of 2025. The scale of AI computing demand now directly competes with bitcoin mining for scarce resources such as grid connections, land permits, cooling infrastructure, and affordable electricity. A recent agreement with Google and Broadcom will provide multiple gigawatts of next-generation computing capacity to train and serve cutting-edge Claude models, starting in 2027.
Estimates suggest that bitcoin mining globally draws around 13 to 25 gigawatts of continuous power, depending on hardware efficiency. Anthropic's acquisition of multiple gigawatts, in addition to its existing capacity across various platforms, demonstrates AI's rapid emergence as a peer-level competitor for the same energy infrastructure that miners rely on.
The aggregate AI computing 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. This decision is increasingly leaning towards renting to AI companies, as seen in Core Scientific's conversion of significant mining capacity to AI hosting. Other companies, such as Iris Energy and Hut 8, have expanded their AI and high-performance computing revenue. The economics of mining are becoming less sustainable, with Riot Platforms, MARA Holdings, and Genius Group selling over 19,000 BTC from their treasuries.
A bitcoin miner operating a gigawatt of capacity earns fluctuating revenue based on bitcoin's price and network difficulty, whereas renting the same capacity to an AI company yields a contracted rate with predictable cash flows. At current prices and difficulty levels, AI rentals often provide better returns.
The revenue numbers behind this expansion are telling, with Anthropic reporting a doubling of business customers spending over $1 million annually on Claude in less than two months. While this does not signify the demise of bitcoin mining, the network's hashrate continues to reach record levels above 1 zetahash per second. However, the miners that survive this cycle may evolve into infrastructure companies that happen to mine bitcoin while renting their primary asset, affordable power at scale, to the rapidly expanding AI industry.