Bitcoin Miners Are Fleeing to AI: So Why Is the Hash Rate Surging?

Five major publicly traded Bitcoin miners—IREN, Core Scientific, Bitfarms, TeraWulf and Cipher—reduced their Bitcoin output by 47% for the year to date versus the same period in 2025, to 7,075 BTC from 13,263, as they shifted power toward AI and high-performance computing and announced more than $50 billion in related leases. IREN holds a $9.7 billion Microsoft contract and expects its mining fleet to be effectively decommissioned by year-end. Yet Bitcoin’s network hash rate has recovered 11.7% from an Aug. 6 low below 900 EH/s and remains less than 9% below its all-time high. CryptoQuant attributed the recovery to new machines operated by private, sovereign-backed and non-US miners, while the network added 105 EH/s since August.