AI-focused miners delivered standout performance in 2025, with IREN up roughly 300% year-to-date as AI deployment expands across mining operations. Cipher Mining rose about 230% YTD, driven by AI hosting partnerships, notably with Fluidstack. Hut 8 gained around 139%, buoyed by a major AI data center lease worth about $7 billion over 15 years for 245 MW at its River Bend site in Louisiana.
By contrast, traditional bitcoin-focused operators failed to keep pace. Marathon Digital, holder of the largest BTC stash among miners at 53,250 BTC, slipped about 44% YTD. CleanSpark rose roughly 16% and Riot Platforms about 32%, yet neither had aggressively pursued AI diversification until late in the year. Bitdeer Technologies, the sector’s biggest underperformer, fell around 50% after a larger-than-expected net loss and a delay to its ASIC chip.
The year also underscored a clear trend: miners repurposed sites for AI data centers, a pivot that outperformed pure-play bitcoin operators. Core Scientific remained independent after shareholders rejected a $9 billion all-stock bid from CoreWeave, with CORZ up about 9% year-to-date as the year progressed. The broader implication is that AI and HPC infrastructure ambitions are increasingly shaping mining equities, even as bitcoin price dynamics remain volatile.
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