Stocks of Bitcoin mining companies that have changed their business plans to cater to the needs of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure have been the big winners in 2025, and the trend has continued into the new year.
If Big Tech’s earnings this year are any indication, they may continue to benefit from the transformation.
Fourth-quarter results and 2026 outlooks released late Wednesday by tech giants Meta ( META ) and Microsoft ( MSFT ) — both companies putting AI investments at the center of their growth strategies this year and beyond — suggested the AI spending boom is not slowing down.
“We are at the beginning of the spread of artificial intelligence, and Microsoft has built an AI business larger than some of our largest franchises,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. “We are pushing the frontier of the entire AI stack to bring new value to our customers and partners.”
Meanwhile, Meta forecasts capital spending in 2026 of $115-135 billion, well above the consensus forecast of $110 billion.
Read more: GPU Gold Rush: Why Bitcoin Miners Are Driving the Expansion of Artificial Intelligence
Faced with the profit squeeze caused by Bitcoin’s last halving event, which saw miner rewards cut in half, as well as higher competition and electricity costs, mining companies have turned to their data centers to host artificial intelligence and cloud computers. The move saved many miners from bankruptcy as it allowed them to diversify their revenue streams beyond mining Bitcoin and cash in on the ongoing artificial intelligence-related hype.
In November, Iren (IREN) announced a multi-year cloud services contract with Microsoft to support artificial intelligence workloads using advanced Nvidia (NVDA) chips, signaling a deeper shift toward high-performance computing. Around the same time, Cipher Mining (CIFR) signed a deal with Amazon (AMZN) to provide 300 megawatts of capacity to Amazon Web Services (AWS), one of the largest infrastructure commitments yet by a Bitcoin miner looking to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom.
IREN rose 4.9% ahead of Wednesday’s results, bringing its year-to-date gain to 47% and year-over-year gain to 524%. After rising 1.2% on Wednesday, CIFR is now up 17% in 2026 and up 322% year over year.
Another miner that has successfully pivoted to AI infrastructure and high-performance computing so far is Hut 8 (HUT), which is up 26% year-to-date and 230% year-over-year.
Nvidia’s next report, due out on February 25, will be the next test of the sustainability of the optimism surrounding artificial intelligence and cloud computing.
Read more: Bitcoin miners chase AI demand, Nvidia says Rubin is already in production
