Anthropic has forged a significant partnership with Google and Broadcom to secure multiple gigawatts of cutting-edge TPU computing capacity, slated to become operational starting in 2027. This substantial commitment underscores the company's rapid growth, with annual revenue soaring to $30 billion from $9 billion in 2025. The massive demand for AI computing power is now directly competing with bitcoin mining for 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 acquisition of multiple gigawatts, in addition to its existing capacity across various platforms, highlights the swift emergence of AI as a major competitor for the energy infrastructure that miners rely on. The collective AI computing expansion has become one of the largest sources of new electricity demand in the United States, coinciding with the decision of bitcoin miners to either mine bitcoin or rent their infrastructure to AI companies.
Many miners are opting for the latter, with companies like Core Scientific, Iris Energy, and Hut 8 transitioning their capacity to AI hosting. The revenue generated by renting infrastructure to AI companies often surpasses that of mining bitcoin, particularly at current prices and difficulty levels. While this shift does not signify the demise of bitcoin mining, the surviving miners may evolve to resemble infrastructure companies that mine bitcoin while renting their primary asset, affordable power at scale, to the rapidly expanding AI industry.