Anthropic has formed a strategic partnership with Google and Broadcom to secure multiple gigawatts of next-generation TPU computing capacity, which is expected to become operational 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 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 Cambridge-based tracker estimates that bitcoin mining consumes approximately 13 to 25 gigawatts of continuous power globally, depending on hardware efficiency assumptions. Anthropic's acquisition of multiple gigawatts from 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 peer-level competitor for the same energy infrastructure that miners rely on. Furthermore, the aggregate AI compute buildout 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.
This decision is increasingly favoring the latter, as evidenced by Core Scientific's conversion of a significant portion of its mining capacity to AI hosting through a deal with CoreWeave, as well as Iris Energy and Hut 8's expansion of their AI and high-performance computing revenue. The revenue numbers behind this expansion tell a compelling story, with Anthropic reporting 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 industry's dynamics are shifting, with miners potentially evolving into infrastructure companies that happen to mine bitcoin while renting their primary asset, affordable power at scale, to the rapidly growing AI industry.