According to Bloomberg, Bitcoin miner Core Scientific Inc. is repurposing part of its infrastructure to support high-performance computing operations for artificial intelligence (AI) companies. The Austin, Texas-based firm has deployed a 16-megawatt data-center capacity for an AI startup. This move comes after the main revenue for Bitcoin miners was halved in late April due to a code update in the blockchain, known as the halving. This update reduces the Bitcoin rewarded to miners that validate transaction data on the network by 50% every four years. The aim is to maintain a hard cap of 21 million tokens and prevent the digital currency from becoming inflationary.
The most recent halving, which was the fourth since 2012, cut daily Bitcoin production from 900 to 450. This resulted in an estimated annual revenue loss of $10 billion for miners, based on the price of the original cryptocurrency at that time. However, large-scale miners like Core Scientific are seeking to increase revenue and capitalize on the AI boom. They are doing this by repurposing some of their assets to provide data-center services to AI companies, which also require energy-intensive facilities.
Core Scientific's CEO stated that the company is in regular discussions with its customers in this space and plans to expand this part of its business throughout the year. The full conversion of 500 megawatts of Bitcoin mining infrastructure to host high-performance computing is expected to take three to four years. The company anticipates generating revenue as it adds clients. In the first quarter, Core Scientific reported $179.3 million in revenue, a $58.6 million increase from the same period last year. This increase was primarily due to rising Bitcoin prices earlier this year and more computing power generated from its facilities.