Public Bitcoin miners shed an estimated 56 EH/s of hashrate in the first half of 2026, a steeper drop than the wider network saw, as they redirect power toward AI hosting. Their reported HPC and AI revenue jumped 52% quarter over quarter, but the capex behind that pivot ran nearly 15 times the revenue it has produced so far.
Miners cut hashrate faster than the network
Public miners tracked by TheEnergyMag shed an estimated 56 EH/s of realized hashrate over the first half of 2026, a 15% contraction versus the 10% drop across the broader Bitcoin network. Much of that power did not leave compute altogether — it moved toward the AI retrofit instead.
That shift shows up on the income statement. Directly reported HPC and AI revenue among the comparable miners rose 52% from the first quarter, and for the companies furthest into the transition, the second quarter marked the first time HPC colocation or AI-cloud revenue overtook the mining revenue being wound down.
The capex gap
The conversion is expensive. A previous Miner Weekly analysis tracked roughly $30 billion of capex by public miners and AI peers. PwC separately estimates the broader AI data-center buildout could require $31.6 trillion through 2050.
The 14 companies in TheEnergyMag's latest comparison spent $18.6 billion in one aligned quarter. Among six infrastructure providers already reporting recurring HPC revenue, companywide capex was nearly 15 times their combined period revenue.
What an AI megawatt-hour is worth
AI cloud still sits in a different revenue league than mining. Its estimated median of $940.74 per MWh is more than five times the $179.13 per MWh generated by Bitmain's latest-generation Antminer S23 Hyd., and more than eight times the $113.45 per MWh from an S21 Pro. HPC colocation lands much closer to mining: TheEnergyMag's estimated median of $174.90 per MWh is almost identical to the S23 Hyd.'s current mining revenue. But colocation revenue is generally contracted for years, while bitcoin mining revenue changes continuously with price, network difficulty and fees.
Zcash mining sits between those extremes. A Z15 Pro, rated at 840 KSol/s and 2.78 kW, currently generates an estimated $585.61 per MWh, roughly three times the revenue density of an S23 Hyd., though with substantially greater volatility. Just over a week ago the figure sat above $700 per MWh.
Revenue per MWh explains why miners want AI tenants. Capex explains why only some of them will turn that into attractive returns.
Source: The Energy Mag
Trading involves risk.
Risk Disclaimer
