Anthropic has formed a partnership with Google and Broadcom to access multiple gigawatts of next-generation TPU computing capacity, set to become available starting in 2027. This commitment marks the company's most substantial undertaking to date, driven by an accelerated revenue growth that has reached a $30 billion annual rate, up from $9 billion at the end of 2025. The 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. A deal has been signed with Google and Broadcom for multiple gigawatts of next-generation TPU capacity to train and deploy frontier Claude models, starting in 2027.
According to a Cambridge tracker, bitcoin mining globally consumes approximately 13 to 25 gigawatts of continuous power, depending on hardware efficiency. Anthropic's acquisition of multiple gigawatts through a single deal, in addition to its existing capacity across AWS Trainium, Google TPUs, and Nvidia GPUs, demonstrates the rapid growth of AI as a major competitor for the same energy infrastructure that miners rely on.
Moreover, Anthropic is just one company; OpenAI, having raised $122 billion last week, is developing its infrastructure across an even broader portfolio spanning five cloud providers and four chip platforms. The aggregate AI computing expansion represents one of the largest sources of new electricity demand in the United States, coinciding with the period when bitcoin miners are deciding whether to mine bitcoin or rent their infrastructure to AI companies. This decision is increasingly favoring the latter.
Core Scientific has converted a significant portion of its mining capacity to AI hosting through a deal with CoreWeave, while Iris Energy and Hut 8 have expanded their AI and high-performance computing revenue. Riot Platforms, MARA Holdings, and Genius Group have disclosed selling over 19,000 BTC from their treasuries, indicating that mining economics alone are not sufficient to sustain operations at current prices and difficulty levels.
A bitcoin miner operating a gigawatt of capacity earns revenue that fluctuates with bitcoin's price and network difficulty, whereas renting the same gigawatt to an AI company earns a contracted rate with predictable cash flows. At a bitcoin price of $69,000, with difficulty at all-time highs and rising energy costs, the AI rental often generates higher revenue. The revenue numbers behind the expansion are telling; Anthropic reported that the number of business customers spending over $1 million annually on Claude has doubled from 500 to over 1,000 in less than two months.
While this does not signify the demise of bitcoin mining, the miners that survive the current cycle may transform into infrastructure companies that happen to mine bitcoin while renting their primary asset – affordable power at scale – to an AI industry that is struggling to build data centers quickly enough.