Bitcoin miners are sitting on a number of the strongest information facilities on the earth, constructed throughout years of heavy funding in high-end servers and energy-intensive infrastructure. But, as mining turns into more durable and fewer profitable, those self same services are proving much more useful for one thing else. AI, high-performance computing, and cloud workloads thrive on precisely the sort of {hardware} miners already function at scale.
Grand View Analysis estimates that the worldwide marketplace for AI-driven high-performance computing reached $2.6 billion in 2023 and will climb to $4.8 billion by 2030, reflecting a 9.4% CAGR. Rising demand for superior compute capabilities throughout industries is fueling that enlargement, and drawing bitcoin miners towards a enterprise mannequin with extra reliable income potential.
Residents JMP analyst Greg Miller has been watching this dynamic take form, and he describes it in clear prose, explaining the best way it may well carry alternatives for buyers.
“Given surging demand for information heart area and a scarcity of provide available in the market right now, the buildout of latest powered information heart area can create important worth… A number of corporations are within the distinctive place to produce capability to AI hyperscalers which supplies shareholders a much better various to bitcoin mining… We consider the universe of former bitcoin miners can provide ~15 GW, with scaled energy corporations accounting for an additional ~15GW… Even with the close to – meteoritic rise in valuation, we consider the shares have room to run as hyperscale deployments across the nation speed up from right here,” Miller opined.
In opposition to this backdrop, Miller has highlighted three former bitcoin miners now leaning into the AI growth. We ran the trio by means of the TipRanks database to see how the remainder of Wall Avenue views their prospects. Let’s dive in.
Cipher Mining(CIFR)
We’ll get began with Cipher Mining, a tech agency working in Texas – the place it has 5 industrial-scale information facilities on-line with one other 5 within the building and growth pipeline. The corporate’s information facilities are presently in a state of transition, shifting from a bitcoin mining focus to excessive efficiency computing – with the aim being that Cipher Mining will have the ability to allocate assets towards each functions as alternative and enterprise name.
At the moment, Cipher Mining has 5 lively information facilities, all positioned within the northwest of Texas. The most important facility, Barber Lake, is increasing, and its Part II, anticipated on-line in 2029, will add one other 500 megawatts to its present 300-megawatt capability. Total, Cipher Mining has 3.2 gigawatts of latest capability in its growth pipeline.
These present websites and growth tasks have been supplemented within the firm’s November 3 announcement that it is going to be growing a 1-gigawatt web site in West Texas. The brand new web site, dubbed Colchis, will probably be majority financed by Cipher and can concentrate on high-performance computing.
Whereas Cipher’s present actions – and revenues – heart on bitcoin mining, the corporate is transferring shortly to carry its HPC enterprise to the fore. In latest months, Cipher has executed pivotal transactions with Fluidstack and Google to supply HPC-capable computing, constructing its credibility as a supplier. Extra importantly, the corporate has introduced, additionally on November 3, a 15-year lease settlement plan with AWS. The plan sees Cipher offering ‘turnkey area and energy for AI workloads,’ in addition to 300 megawatts of energy capability subsequent yr. The deal is valued at roughly $5.5 billion, and hire will start in August of subsequent yr.
For now, as famous, Cipher’s income remains to be derived from its bitcoin actions. Within the final quarter, 3Q25, the corporate generated a high line of $71.7 million, almost triple the 3Q24 determine – though it was additionally $4.8 million under expectations. The corporate’s non-GAAP third-quarter EPS, at $0.10 missed the forecast by $0.01.
In his protection for Residents JMP, analyst Greg Miller notes the potential inherent in Cipher’s deliberate strategic shift, writing of the corporate, “With probably 3.8 GW of capability to carry to bear within the HPC market, solely in Texas, we count on Cipher’s HPC stock will rival that of a number of the main tasks available in the market like Stargate with 3 GWs deliberate… Regardless of the ~146 % rise within the share worth of CIFR over the previous three months, we proceed to consider the inventory stays engaging as full -scale hyperscale leasing accelerates… If Cipher efficiently executes on its deliberate capability build-out, the inventory might exceed $90 per share assuming it leases all of its 3.8 GW in its pipeline.”
Miller places an Outperform (i.e., Purchase) ranking on Cipher, together with a $30 worth goal that signifies room for an upside of 106% by this time subsequent yr. (To observe Miller’s monitor file, click on right here)
The inventory has 14 latest analyst evaluations on file, and the 12-to-2 break up in favor of Purchase over Maintain provides it a Sturdy Purchase consensus ranking. Shares in Cipher are priced at $14.56 and their $24.11 common worth goal implies {that a} one-year acquire of 65.5% is within the offing. (See CIFR inventory forecast)
Riot Platforms(RIOT)
Subsequent on our record is Riot Platforms, a Colorado-based bitcoin miner with information heart services in Texas and Kentucky, and electrical switchgear engineering and manufacturing ops positioned in its house metropolis of Denver. The corporate has nicely over 1 gigawatt of knowledge heart capability already up and operating, with one other 600 megawatts beneath growth within the ongoing expansions of its Corsicana facility in Texas. The primary 112 megawatts of latest capability there are already beneath building. We must always notice that Riot’s Rockdale facility, by developed capability, is presently the biggest bitcoin mining information heart in North America.
Along with its in depth information heart ops, Riot can also be the total proprietor of ESS Metron, a subsidiary firm with a powerful place within the world marketplace for energy distribution facilities and different superior electrical tools. Proudly owning this subsidiary permits Riot to maintain a lot of its ancillary {hardware} techniques, mandatory for sustaining the information facilities, ‘in-house,’ a key benefit in a capital-intensive area.
Riot has not switched to promoting HPC entry – but. However the firm’s massive enlargement of its already massive information heart footprint is aimed in that route. Like a lot of its friends, Riot is counting on bitcoin mining proceeds as a everlasting revenue driver, and the corporate noticed file income in its final reported quarter, 3Q25.
In that quarter, the corporate’s high line got here to $180.2 million, up 112% year-over-year and a few $7.9 million higher than had been anticipated. Riot’s internet revenue for the quarter, of $104.5 million, translated to a diluted EPS of 26 cents, 13 cents per share higher than the forecast. These good points got here on the heels of a giant manufacturing soar – in Q3, Riot produced 1,406 bitcoin, a year-over-year enhance of 302.
Miller, in his protection for Residents, factors out Riot’s massive lively capability, and notes how it’s pre-adapted for the HPC market. Summing up the corporate’s prospects, the analyst writes, “With 1.7GW of energy capability in key markets, RIOT is uniquely positioned to monetize its asset base in a way far superior to that of bitcoin mining. We count on the pivot in technique, to promote capability into the HPC market, will produce important returns for shareholders as soon as the corporate indicators its first contract. At the moment, we worth solely the 1.7GW of permitted energy however count on the pipeline will develop as quickly as others that would produce a doubling of this pipeline within the subsequent six months.”
Quantifying his stance, Miller units an Outperform (i.e., Purchase) ranking on RIOT, with a $25 worth goal that suggests a strong one-year share worth acquire of 87%.
Riot’s Sturdy Purchase consensus ranking on the Avenue is unanimous, based mostly as it’s on 17 constructive analyst evaluations. The inventory has a buying and selling worth of $12.78 and its common goal worth, $27.35, factors towards a 114% appreciation over the following 12 months. (See RIOT inventory forecast)
IREN, Ltd.(IREN)
Final on our record is IREN, a bitcoin miner that has seen the broader applicability of its next-generation information facilities. IREN retains its administrative workplaces in Sydney, Australia, and Vancouver, British Columbia, and operates 4 information heart services – three of those are in BC, and the fourth is in Texas. The corporate boasts that its information facilities run on 100% renewable energy sources; in British Columbia, which means the services are plugged into the province’s hydroelectric energy community. The services have a mixed energy ranking of 160 megawatts. In Texas, the corporate’s massive Childress facility is presently working at 350 megawatts capability, with one other 400 megawatts beneath building, based mostly on wind and solar energy.
Simply as vital as the facility ranking, IREN’s information heart services are linked to world on-line networks utilizing devoted fiber optic cable pathways, in a position to keep excessive ranges of knowledge transmission. Whereas initially deliberate as a part of the bitcoin mining operations, these connections have confirmed able to supporting the corporate’s shift towards AI information heart operations.
IREN now not describes itself as a bitcoin miner; relatively, the corporate payments itself as an AI Cloud Service supplier – and it’s making massive strides towards increasing that new function. Simply this month, IREN introduced that it had scored an vital win – a multi-year GPU cloud service contract with Microsoft. Microsoft is a serious supplier of cloud subscription companies, and IREN will now give the software program large entry to late-model NVIDIA GB300 GPUs. The contract will run over a five-year time period and is valued at $9.7 billion.
Together with the Microsoft deal, IREN will work with Dell to purchase the GPUs and different mandatory gear in a purchase order deal valued at $5.8 billion. The brand new {hardware} will probably be put in at IREN’s Texas facility in phases all through subsequent yr. All of that is a part of IREN’s plan to increase its annualized run-rate income (ARR) to $3.4 billion by yr’s finish 2026.
Within the meantime, the corporate’s fiscal 1Q26 report (September quarter) confirmed a record-level high line of $240.3 million. This determine was up a formidable 355% from fiscal 1Q25. As well as, the corporate’s internet revenue turned from a $51.7 million internet loss in fiscal 1Q25 to a 1Q26 revenue of $384.6 million – which was additionally a file stage for the corporate.
We must always notice two salient factors about IREN’s share worth. First, that year-to-date, IREN shares are up by 366%, with most of that acquire coming since August. And second, that the inventory fell sharply in November, when a pullback in AI shares sparked worries about whether or not the AI growth can keep its quick tempo.
Analyst Miller has famous IREN’s strategic transfer to offering AI-capable cloud companies, and the corporate’s success; checking in with him one final time, we discover that he’s not frightened concerning the persistence of the AI growth. Miller writes, “IREN is trying to turn out to be a vertically built-in GPUaaS supplier with direct possession of the underlying information heart belongings. The technique ought to higher shield the corporate from escalating actual property prices with declining ASPs. With quicker income development and payback, GPUaaS ought to produce very robust monetary metrics within the near-term, permitting the corporate to provide greater than $3.4b in income for this new section by the tip of 2026. Valued in blocks of GPUaaS contracts, it might be price of $280+ per share over an prolonged interval or time.”
These feedback again up Miller’s Outperform (Purchase) ranking, whereas his $80 worth goal implies a one-year upside potential of 84%.
This inventory’s Average Purchase consensus ranking is predicated on 13 latest analyst evaluations that embody 9 to Purchase and a couple of every to Maintain and Promote. The shares are priced at $43.47, and their $83.45 common worth goal suggests a acquire of 92% for the following 12 months. (See IREN inventory forecast)
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed on this article are solely these of the featured analyst. The content material is meant for use for informational functions solely. It is vitally vital to do your individual evaluation earlier than making any funding.
