BlackRock and Microsoft have teamed up to form a new group to create a $30 billion investment fund for artificial intelligence (AI) data centers.
The move comes amid growing demand for AI technology, which requires large amounts of computing power and energy to operate effectively.
AI Energy Demand Opens New Opportunities for Bitcoin Miners
The fund aims to raise $30 billion through Capital investments from BlackRock’s infrastructure unit, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), which will allow it to tap an additional $70 billion in debt financing.
Meanwhile, Microsoft, Abu Dhabi’s MGX, and chipmaker Nvidia will lead the project. They will ensure that the design and construction of the infrastructure incorporates the latest technologies to meet the high-computing demands of AI. The new fund will focus on building data centers capable of handling the energy-intensive operations of generative AI.
The connection between the energy sector and infrastructure is becoming increasingly intimate. AI technology, especially models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT , is straining existing digital infrastructure with its massive computational demands. These models require many times more energy than previous technologies, creating bottlenecks in building the necessary AI infrastructure.
This growing demand has become a major obstacle to the further development of AI. However, this situation has brought benefits to some parties.
For example, Nvidia, known for its AI-processing GPUs, will play a key role in developing factories for these data centers. Additionally, with their expertise in energy management, Bitcoin Miners are emerging as key players in this new segment.
This phenomenon is evident in a number of investments and initiatives from Bitcoin Miners in the sector. BeInCrypto reported that Core Scientific, one of the largest Bitcoin mining companies, signed a $3.5 billion contract with Nvidia-backed CoreWeave in June. The contract is to upgrade its facilities to accommodate AI and high-performance computing (HPC) tasks.
Another Bitcoin mining company, Hut 8, has also made moves into the AI data center market. With a $150 million investment from Coatue Management, Hut 8 can leverage its existing infrastructure and energy expertise to support the growing demand for AI computing power. Ultimately, this move will expand Hut 8’s operations beyond traditional Bitcoin mining.
Integrating AI infrastructure into Bitcoin mining operations is also becoming more attractive to investors. According to a report from asset management firm VanEck, Bitcoin Miners are in a unique position to meet AI’s energy needs, thanks to their existing energy-intensive operations.
“The reciprocity is simple: AI companies need energy, and Bitcoin Miners have energy. As the market appreciates the growing AI/HPC demand for data centers, access to energy—especially in the short term—is at a premium. […] The right Bitcoin mining sites can power AI GPUs in less than a year, compared to the four-plus years it would take to build a brand-new AI data center. […] If well-equipped with power, bandwidth, and cooling systems, Bitcoin mining sites are ideally placed to capture this value for AI/HPC cloud services,” the report notes.
VanEck research suggests that Bitcoin Miners who shift some of their energy capacity to AI and HPC tasks could see a significant increase in profits by 2027. Furthermore, the report estimates that Miners could generate an additional $13.9 billion in annual profits by shifting just 20% of their energy resources to AI infrastructure. This shift could also lead to a doubling of their market Capital over the next few years as demand for AI computing power continues to soar.
