Investment research firm Bernstein has reaffirmed its overweight stance on the Bitcoin mining sector, arguing that partnerships between Bitcoin miners and artificial intelligence companies are not optional but structurally necessary as AI data centers run into hard power supply limits.
According to a Thursday research note, Bernstein’s deal tracker logged a new AI-related Bitcoin mining agreement every week in July. Combined contracted capacity across those deals has surpassed 7.5 gigawatts, equivalent to more than $150 billion in multi-year contract value.
July Floods With Miner-AI Tie-Ups
The pace of deal-making accelerated sharply this month. Bitcoin mining companies Hut 8 and IREN both announced major infrastructure agreements earlier in the week, sending Bitcoin mining stocks to double-digit gains on Monday. Hut 8 signed a 15-year lease valued at $9.8 billion for its AI data center campus, while IREN disclosed $2.8 billion in cloud services contracts with AI developers.
Other listed miners have moved in the same direction. MARA Holdings announced plans to acquire a Texas site with up to 2 gigawatts of capacity for AI and digital infrastructure expansion. Days earlier, TeraWulf signed a 20-year data center lease with AI startup Anthropic, a deal the company said could generate roughly $19 billion in contract revenue. Bitdeer has also expanded into AI cloud services and high-performance computing.
By Thursday morning premarket, HUT 8 shares were up 5.23 percent, IREN was up 1.89 percent, and TeraWulf had gained 1.49 percent. The CoinShares Bitcoin Mining ETF (WGMI) rose 1.47 percent ahead of the Nasdaq open. Bernstein carries an outperform rating on all the named stocks except MARA, which it rates as market perform.
Seeking Alpha contributor The Curious Analyst rated IREN a strong buy on Thursday, noting that ‘IREN is beginning to convert that infrastructure advantage into contracted and more predictable revenue,’ while flagging execution as the biggest risk to that thesis.
Political Pushback Keeps Third-Party Capacity in Demand
Bernstein’s analysts argue that access to power remains the defining bottleneck for the AI industry, and that growing bipartisan political resistance to new US data center construction will keep third-party computing providers, especially Bitcoin miners, structurally important for AI companies.
On Wednesday, Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico shared a proposal calling for stronger local approval processes and the repeal of tax breaks for AI data centers.
In April, US Senator Ron Wyden raised concerns that AI data centers in Oregon could worsen water scarcity during droughts. He noted that large facilities can consume up to 5 million gallons of water per day and asked operators to explain how they would cut groundwater withdrawals.
In March, the Trump administration published a Ratepayer Protection Pledge designed to expand AI infrastructure without raising electricity bills for households and small businesses.
In January, several state governors published plans to expand the grid to meet rising AI power demand, but stipulated that new data centers must bear the costs they create rather than shifting them onto residential customers and small businesses.
With new greenfield capacity facing this growing web of political and regulatory friction, Bernstein concludes that Bitcoin miners sitting on existing permitted power infrastructure are positioned as indispensable partners for the AI buildout.
