Texas Bitcoin mines transform into AI factories

Massive Bitcoin mining facilities in the U.S. are rapidly being repurposed. A site in Corsicana, Texas, designed in 2024 as the world's largest Bitcoin mining facility, is set to serve an entirely different purpose just 18 months later.

Two-thirds of the facility will now be used for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) due to its high energy capacity and infrastructure. What was once seen as a "temple" of Bitcoin will become an AI factory.

This shift isn't limited to a single company. Over the past 18 months, at least nine publicly traded Bitcoin miners—including Bitfarms, Core Scientific, Riot, IREN, TeraWulf, CleanSpark, Bit Digital, MARA Holdings, and Cipher Mining—have announced plans to pivot all or part of their operations to AI services.

The reason is simple: the AI sector requires massive data centers with high energy capacity, and Bitcoin miners' facilities are already perfectly suited. Meltem Demirors of Crucible Capital explains, "Bitcoin mining created the model for modern data centers… Companies are swapping mining machines for GPUs brought in by tenants."

Bitcoin mining profitability is declining. Revenue depends on being the first to solve complex math problems, but competition has surged over the years, requiring vastly more computational power. The 2024 halving cut block rewards in half, further reducing profits. Bitcoin's price drop—around 30% from its 2025 peak to roughly $85,000—also pressures mining income.

According to CoinShares, only a few major miners remain profitable, while AI offers higher profit margins and predictable revenue through long-term contracts with major tech firms. Bitcoin miners have recently signed AI and HPC contracts worth over $43 billion.

Bitfarms CEO Ben Gagnon notes that while Bitcoin mining is still profitable, HPC generates "much more value per unit of energy" and provides predictable returns over years. As a result, investing in new mining equipment no longer makes sense.

This rapid shift from crypto mining to AI signals a major trend: for large, energy-intensive facilities, the most profitable use is no longer mining but artificial intelligence.