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 as demand for AI technology continues to grow, requiring massive computing power and energy to operate effectively.
AI Energy Demand Opens New Opportunities for Bitcoin Miners
The fund aims to raise $30 billion through BlackRock’s infrastructure unit, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP). This will allow them 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 the design and implementation of facilities that incorporate the latest technology to meet the high computing demands of AI. The new fund will focus on building data centers capable of handling the high-energy operations of AI engines.
The investment comes as the energy and infrastructure sectors become increasingly intertwined. Artificial intelligence, especially models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, are straining existing digital infrastructure with their massive computational demands. These models require significantly more energy than previous technologies, creating a bottleneck in building the necessary AI infrastructure.
This growing demand has become a major obstacle to further AI development. However, this situation can be beneficial for many parties. For example, Nvidia, famous for its AI processing GPUs, will play a major Vai in developing factories for these data centers. In addition, with their experience 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 aimed at upgrading their facilities for AI and high-performance computing (HPC) tasks.
Another Bitcoin mining company, Hut 8, has also made a move into the AI data center market. With a $150 million investment from Coatue Management, Hut 8 can leverage its existing energy and infrastructure expertise to support the growing demand for AI computing power. Ultimately, this move will expand Hut 8’s operations beyond traditional Bitcoin mining.
The integration of AI infrastructure into Bitcoin mining is also becoming increasingly attractive to investors. According to a report from asset management firm VanEck, Bitcoin Miners are in a unique position to meet the energy demands of AI. This is due to their current energy consumption.
“The combination is simple: AI companies need power, and Bitcoin Miners have it. As the market values the growing AI/HPC data center market, access to electricity—especially in the short term—is becoming more expensive. […] The right Bitcoin mining sites can power GPUs for AI in less than a year, compared to the four-plus years it takes for new AI data center projects to come online. […] If equipped with adequate power, bandwidth, and cooling, Bitcoin mining sites are ideally suited to capture this value for AI/HPC cloud services,”
the report stated.
Bitcoin Miners ' Earning Potential from AI. Source: VanEckVanEck research suggests that by 2027, Bitcoin Miners who devote a portion of their energy capacity to AI and HPC tasks could see a significant increase in profits. 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 grow.
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