Bitcoin Miners Surge Power Usage to 190 TWh as 10% Begin AI Transition, 40% Explore Shift

According to Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance research shared at the first Energy Investment Forum in Dallas, global Bitcoin mining annual electricity consumption surged from 138 terawatts per hour (TWh) to approximately 190 TWh between June 2024 and December 2025. About 10% of miners have begun allocating some power to artificial intelligence or high-performance computing (HPC), while over 40% of enterprises are exploring the transition.

Researcher Alexander Neumüller noted that while Bitcoin miners possess experience in sourcing low-cost electricity, building modular computing infrastructure, and participating in grid services—offering potential advantages for AI data center expansion—owning power resources does not automatically qualify a miner to successfully build AI data centers. Future combinations of mining operations and AI infrastructure may take multiple forms, including large-scale AI data centers, distributed computing, continued Bitcoin mining, or grid service provision.