GoMining Report: AI Expansion Intensifies Power Competition, Driving Strategic Shift Among Bitcoin Miners

In Brief

GoMining’s new report reveals that while institutional Bitcoin adoption surged in early 2025, miners are facing growing challenges from rising energy costs and competition from AI firms.

GoMining Institutional, a division of the Bitcoin-focused ecosystem GoMining that provides structured Bitcoin mining and yield solutions for institutional investors, has released a new report titled “H1 Bitcoin Mining Market Review and Key Trends.”

The report observes that the first half of 2025 was marked by a paradoxical environment in the Bitcoin mining sector, where growing institutional involvement coexisted with increasing geopolitical and operational challenges. The study emphasizes a fast phase of industry maturation, influenced by rising sovereign interest in Bitcoin, a surge in exchange-traded fund activity, and intensified competition for energy resources driven by the accelerating expansion of the AI sector.

According to the findings, a structural shift is underway in the global energy landscape. Hyperscale data operators and AI firms, often equipped with more capital, are outbidding Bitcoin miners for access to energy infrastructure. This has created strategic disruptions at a time when institutional appetite for Bitcoin remains high. The report notes that the economic impact of the 2024 halving, coupled with rising AI demand, has sharply increased operational stress for US-based miners. With profit margins shrinking after the halving, miners are now considerably more vulnerable to fluctuations in electricity prices. In contrast, AI firms show a lower sensitivity to such costs and are actively locking in long-term energy contracts, effectively sidelining miners in several critical markets.

This competitive imbalance has already produced measurable outcomes. Riot Platforms has paused its planned 600-megawatt Bitcoin mining expansion in Corsicana, Texas, while it evaluates opportunities related to artificial intelligence and high-performance computing at the site. Iris Energy has similarly imposed a limit on the growth of its mining fleet, redirecting focus toward its AI cloud services business, which is reportedly generating over $25 million in annualized revenue through deployments of advanced NVIDIA GPUs. Meanwhile, companies such as Galaxy Digital and Applied Digital have entered extensive lease agreements with CoreWeave, an AI infrastructure firm, thereby reallocating energy capacity away from mining and toward AI computation.

These developments suggest a reordering of strategic priorities across the sector. The report concludes that miners are increasingly being forced to compete with a fundamentally different type of customer. This dynamic is contributing to a slowdown in the growth of US hashrate, which currently accounts for 36% of the global total. As the contest for energy and infrastructure escalates, investment may start to shift toward lesser-developed but resource-rich markets in regions like Latin America and Africa, which could gradually undermine the dominant position currently held by the United States.

“The rise of AI hyperscalers is already reshaping the mining landscape. In the U.S., we’ve seen hashrate growth slow as hyperscalers outcompete miners for access to energy infrastructure,” said Fakhul Miah, Managing Director of GoMining Institutional, in a comment to Mpost

“Firms like Galaxy, Riot, and IREN are pivoting away from mining toward AI and HPC workloads, while others reassess expansion plans. This shift is pushing miners to explore new geographies, particularly Latin America and Africa where power is more abundant, costs are lower, and AI demand is less intense. Long-term, the sector is clearly transitioning toward multi-use infrastructure and broader energy partnerships, as miners adapt to a more competitive and politicized power environment,” he added.

Institutional Bitcoin Adoption Surges, But Miners Face Squeeze

This operational challenge represents a constraint for miners at a time when market conditions indicate strong bullish momentum for Bitcoin. The report draws attention to the substantial influx of institutional capital that characterized the first half of 2025. US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds emerged as one of the most successful product launches on record, collectively managing assets exceeding $100 billion and generating more than $1 trillion in total trading volume.

This institutional momentum extended to the sovereign level, with the US government introducing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, amassing close to 200,000 BTC as a signal of long-term strategic positioning. At the same time, Bitcoin’s total market capitalization surpassed the $2 trillion mark, reinforcing a broader sentiment of institutional confidence in the asset. Corporate engagement also intensified, supported by updated accounting standards that encouraged additional Bitcoin accumulation across a growing number of company balance sheets.

“The first half of 2025 has seen unprecedented institutional and sovereign demand, ETFs now hold over $150 billion in AUM and the U.S. Treasury has allocated 198,000 BTC to a non-spendable Strategic Reserve,”highlighted Fakhul Miah

“Yet miners are facing rising energy costs and infrastructure competition. This paradox is driving a bifurcation, capital-rich firms are scaling aggressively, often pivoting toward HPC, while others are expanding into energy-rich emerging markets. At the same time, innovations in power optimization, such as Auradine’s direct grid-integration and immersion cooling are becoming essential to stay competitive in a high-demand, constrained-supply environment,” he continued.

The Rise Of The ‘Financially Engineered Miner’

Faced with a range of mounting challenges, the Bitcoin mining sector is exhibiting adaptive strategies and operational innovation. According to the report, miners are transitioning from basic infrastructure operators to more advanced financial strategists in order to manage the constraints of a narrow-margin environment. Financing tools such as convertible notes, at-the-market equity programs, and Bitcoin-backed lending have become central to sustaining operations and facilitating expansion, enabling firms to avoid liquidating Bitcoin reserves during unfavorable market conditions.

This evolving financial environment has also contributed to the rise of large-scale private mining entities, which benefit from increased flexibility and the capacity for long-term strategic planning. Notable examples include GoMining, which has exceeded 9 exahashes per second in computing power across its nine international data centers, and Tether, the issuer of a major stablecoin that has committed more than $2 billion toward becoming the largest Bitcoin mining operator globally. These developments reflect a broader industry trend in which operational success is no longer determined solely by access to energy resources, but by the ability to adapt strategically to geopolitical shifts and fast technological advancement.

“Post-halving, miners are increasingly relying on structured financial tools. In H1 2025, we saw widespread adoption of BTC-backed loans, convertible notes, and deferred ASIC financing,” shared Fakhul Miah with Mpost

“For example, Cipher Mining raised $150 million via convertible senior notes, while companies like Riot and CleanSpark are using BTC collateral to unlock liquidity without selling their reserves. These aren’t isolated strategies, they reflect a sector-wide shift toward disciplined, Bitcoin-native capital structuring. Miners today are evolving from passive holders into active financial managers. For many, these tools are becoming foundational, not just for survival, but for growth,” he concluded.

The report provides a panoramic view of the forces shaping the new era of Bitcoin mining. Beyond the critical power competition with AI, the analysis covers the major geopolitical and economic drivers that defined the first half of the year. These include the deepening regulatory clarity brought by Europe’s MiCA framework, the impact of aggressive US trade policies on the hardware supply chain, and an assertive political embrace of Bitcoin highlighted by the creation of the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Furthermore, the report offers an in-depth look at the evolving mining hardware market, detailing the performance and price dynamics of the latest-generation ASICs.