Bitcoin mining companies' AI capital expenditures in the first half of the year exceeded their revenue by 15 times

According to Cointelegraph, a recent report by BlocksBridge Consulting shows that the capital expenditure for AI and high-performance computing (HPC) businesses of 9 publicly listed Bitcoin mining companies will reach $5.11 billion in the first half of 2026, while the related revenue during the same period is only $340 million, resulting in an input-output ratio of about 15:1, highlighting the significant upfront investment required for transformation. Among a sample of 15 mining companies and AI data center companies, the total capital expenditure for the reporting period in 2026 reached $30.7 billion, an increase of 42.6% compared to the entire year of 2025.

Despite the investment far exceeding revenue, AI and HPC revenue is still accelerating. The 9 mining companies saw a quarter-on-quarter growth of 52% to $206 million in the second quarter, led by Core Scientific, TeraWulf, and Bitdeer. BlocksBridge pointed out that although mining companies have advantages in electricity and land, converting to AI-ready capacity still requires substantial investments in substations, cooling systems, network equipment, and GPUs.