Bitcoin miners are sitting on a few of the strongest knowledge facilities on the planet, constructed throughout years of heavy funding in high-end servers and energy-intensive infrastructure. But, as mining turns into harder and fewer profitable, those self same services are proving way more helpful for one thing else. AI, high-performance computing, and cloud workloads thrive on precisely the form of {hardware} miners already function at scale.
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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 could actually deliver alternatives for traders.
“Given surging demand for knowledge middle area and a scarcity of provide available in the market right now, the buildout of latest powered knowledge middle area can create important worth… A number of firms are within the distinctive place to provide capability to AI hyperscalers which gives shareholders a much better various to bitcoin mining… We consider the universe of former bitcoin miners can provide ~15 GW, with scaled energy firms 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.
Towards 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 knowledge facilities on-line with one other 5 within the development and improvement pipeline. The corporate’s knowledge facilities are presently in a state of transition, shifting from a bitcoin mining focus to excessive efficiency computing – with the objective being that Cipher Mining will be capable to allocate assets towards each purposes as alternative and enterprise name.
Presently, Cipher Mining has 5 energetic knowledge facilities, all situated within the northwest of Texas. The biggest facility, Barber Lake, is increasing, and its Section 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 improvement pipeline.
These present websites and improvement tasks had been supplemented within the firm’s November 3 announcement that it will likely be creating a 1-gigawatt website in West Texas. The brand new website, dubbed Colchis, will probably be majority financed by Cipher and can deal with high-performance computing.
Whereas Cipher’s present actions – and revenues – middle on bitcoin mining, the corporate is transferring shortly to deliver its HPC enterprise to the fore. In latest months, Cipher has executed pivotal transactions with Fluidstack and Google to offer 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 continues to be derived from its bitcoin actions. Within the final quarter, 3Q25, the corporate generated a prime line of $71.7 million, almost triple the 3Q24 determine – though it was additionally $4.8 million beneath 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 doubtless 3.8 GW of capability to deliver to bear within the HPC market, fully in Texas, we anticipate Cipher’s HPC stock will rival that of a few of the main tasks available in the market like Stargate with 3 GWs deliberate… Regardless of the ~146 % rise within the share value 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 may 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 value goal that signifies room for an upside of 106% by this time subsequent yr. (To look at Miller’s monitor document, click on right here)
The inventory has 14 latest analyst critiques on file, and the 12-to-2 cut 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 value goal implies {that a} one-year acquire of 65.5% is within the offing. (See CIFR inventory forecast)
Riot Platforms (RIOT)
Subsequent on our listing is Riot Platforms, a Colorado-based bitcoin miner with knowledge middle services in Texas and Kentucky, and electrical switchgear engineering and manufacturing ops situated in its dwelling metropolis of Denver. The corporate has effectively over 1 gigawatt of information middle capability already up and working, with one other 600 megawatts below improvement within the ongoing expansions of its Corsicana facility in Texas. The primary 112 megawatts of latest capability there are already below development. We should always be aware that Riot’s Rockdale facility, by developed capability, is presently the biggest bitcoin mining knowledge middle in North America.
Along with its intensive knowledge middle ops, Riot can also be the complete proprietor of ESS Metron, a subsidiary firm with a powerful place within the international marketplace for energy distribution facilities and different superior electrical gear. Proudly owning this subsidiary permits Riot to maintain a lot of its ancillary {hardware} methods, obligatory 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 giant enlargement of its already giant knowledge middle footprint is aimed in that course. Like lots of its friends, Riot is counting on bitcoin mining proceeds as a everlasting earnings driver, and the corporate noticed document income in its final reported quarter, 3Q25.
In that quarter, the corporate’s prime 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 web earnings for the quarter, of $104.5 million, translated to a diluted EPS of 26 cents, 13 cents per share higher than the forecast. These positive aspects 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 giant energetic 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 fashion far superior to that of bitcoin mining. We anticipate 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. Presently, we worth solely the 1.7GW of authorized energy however anticipate 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 value goal that suggests a strong one-year share value acquire of 87%.
Riot’s Sturdy Purchase consensus ranking on the Avenue is unanimous, based mostly as it’s on 17 optimistic analyst critiques. The inventory has a buying and selling value of $12.78 and its common goal value, $27.35, factors towards a 114% appreciation over the following 12 months. (See RIOT inventory forecast)
IREN, Ltd. (IREN)
Final on our listing is IREN, a bitcoin miner that has seen the broader applicability of its next-generation knowledge facilities. IREN retains its administrative places of work in Sydney, Australia, and Vancouver, British Columbia, and operates 4 knowledge middle services – three of those are in BC, and the fourth is in Texas. The corporate boasts that its knowledge 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 giant Childress facility is presently working at 350 megawatts capability, with one other 400 megawatts below development, based mostly on wind and solar energy.
Simply as necessary as the ability ranking, IREN’s knowledge middle services are related to international on-line networks utilizing devoted fiber optic cable pathways, in a position to keep excessive ranges of information 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 knowledge middle operations.
IREN now not describes itself as a bitcoin miner; slightly, the corporate payments itself as an AI Cloud Service supplier – and it’s making giant strides towards increasing that new position. Simply this month, IREN introduced that it had scored an necessary win – a multi-year GPU cloud service contract with Microsoft. Microsoft is a significant supplier of cloud subscription providers, 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 obligatory 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 broaden 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 prime line of $240.3 million. This determine was up a powerful 355% from fiscal 1Q25. As well as, the corporate’s web earnings turned from a $51.7 million web loss in fiscal 1Q25 to a 1Q26 revenue of $384.6 million – which was additionally a document degree for the corporate.
We should always be aware two salient factors about IREN’s share value. 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 providers, and the corporate’s success; checking in with him one final time, we discover that he’s not nervous concerning the persistence of the AI growth. Miller writes, “IREN is trying to turn into a vertically built-in GPUaaS supplier with direct possession of the underlying knowledge middle belongings. The technique ought to higher shield the corporate from escalating actual property prices with declining ASPs. With sooner income development and payback, GPUaaS ought to produce very robust monetary metrics within the near-term, permitting the corporate to supply greater than $3.4b in income for this new phase by the tip of 2026. Valued in blocks of GPUaaS contracts, it may very well be price of $280+ per share over an prolonged interval or time.”
These feedback again up Miller’s Outperform (Purchase) ranking, whereas his $80 value goal implies a one-year upside potential of 84%.
This inventory’s Average Purchase consensus ranking relies on 13 latest analyst critiques 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 value 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 necessary to do your personal evaluation earlier than making any funding.
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