AI's Race for US Energy Collides with Bitcoin Mining
The race among US technology companies to secure energy resources is intensifying as they vie for the dwindling power supply needed to fuel their rapidly expanding AI and cloud computing data centers. This surge in demand has led tech giants like Amazon and Microsoft to require vast amounts of electricity, surpassing the growth rate of the electrical grid itself.
This scramble for power is shaking up the energy-intensive cryptocurrency mining industry. Some miners are reaping huge profits by leasing or selling their powered infrastructures and locations to tech firms, while others struggle as they lose access to essential electricity supplies. Greg Beard, CEO of Stronghold Digital Mining—a publicly traded Bitcoin mining company—remarked on this fierce competition: "The battle for AI supremacy is being waged by some of the world's largest and most capital-rich companies who act as if winning is a matter of life or death."
According to a report from Marketscreener CH (https://ch.marketscreener.com/kurs/aktie/AMAZON-COM-INC-12864605/news/Wettlauf-der-KI-um-US-Energie-sto-t-auf-Bitcoin-Mining-47747746/), data centers could consume up to 9% of all generated electricity in the United States by decade's end—more than doubling their current consumption levels—as tech companies continue investing heavily in these facilities. Currently, data centers account for about 1–1.3% of global electricity usage compared to approximately 0.4% consumed by crypto-mining operations.
The growing interest from major players such as Amazon highlights this trend further; earlier this year, Amazon acquired an atomic-powered data center previously eyed by Marathon Digital Holdings—the world’s largest publicly listed Bitcoin miner—in Pennsylvania through a deal announced in March that secured enough power equivalent to nearly every household in New Mexico.
Kerri Langlais from TeraWulf noted significant interest from both Amazon and Google regarding her company's facility capable of producing up to 770 megawatts located within New York State alone since June when Core Scientific leased its powered sites valued over $6 billion across twelve years following Nvidia-backed CoreWeave agreement post-bankruptcy proceedings last December, which sparked renewed enthusiasm amongst other operators keenly exploring similar opportunities ever since then too!
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