electricity

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin shared that the cost of Bitcoin mining is roughly half derived from capital expenditures on computing power equipment and the other half from electricity consumption; in contrast, the cost of AI inference is almost entirely dominated by capital expenditures on computing power. This difference reflects the distinct cost structures of the two computing businesses. Bitcoin miners need to continuously pay for electricity and determine their profit margins based on mining machine efficiency, coin prices, and network difficulty changes; AI inference, on the other hand, relies more on investments in expensive hardware like GPUs, as well as equipment utilization and computing efficiency.The industrial boundaries of both are also changing. As the demand for AI computing power grows, some Bitcoin mining companies are beginning to shift their existing electricity resources and data center facilities towards AI and high-performance computing businesses, hoping to transition from pure mining to computing infrastructure services. Some mining companies are leveraging previously allocated electricity capacity for mining to enter the AI data center market. However, transformation does not mean that cost pressures disappear: mining operations are more directly exposed to fluctuations in electricity prices and Bitcoin prices, while AI computing businesses must bear risks related to GPU procurement, depreciation, and underutilization. Both types of businesses compete for electricity and computing resources, but ultimately, profitability depends on how these resources are converted into revenue.

According to the WeChat public account "Du Jia," ByteDance's AI assistant Doubao has added a utility payment feature. Users can initiate payment instructions for water, electricity, gas, and other services through voice or text in the Doubao app, with other life service scenarios also in development. Sources close to Doubao told "Du Jia" that Doubao is gradually building capabilities for handling tasks in life scenarios, including travel services and utility payments."Du Jia" claims to have tested that after issuing commands for paying electricity and water bills in the dialogue box, corresponding service cards pop up and redirect to the utility payment page. The interface is divided into electricity, water, and gas fees, with some regions showing that services are not yet available, while some cities have fully or partially opened them. The relevant framework has been established, and city coverage and service provider integration are still in progress, with actual payments requiring further permission to be granted.Currently, the dialogue only serves to invoke services; steps such as binding account numbers, confirmation, and payment will still be retained, and users will not be charged directly with a single command. Alibaba's Tongyi Qianwen integrated utility payments earlier and can complete payments within the dialogue; Doubao at this stage redirects to handle tasks after invoking the card, and capabilities like food delivery have not yet been launched. The above content comes from "Du Jia" reports and tests, not an official announcement from Doubao.

According to the Star newspaper, police in the central region of Perak, in collaboration with the National Energy Company (TNB), launched an operation in Seri Iskandar to dismantle an illegal cryptocurrency mining site and arrested two local men.The individuals involved are suspected of illegally connecting wires to power Bitcoin mining machines. Police seized 30 Bitcoin mining machines, routers, desktop switches, and a roll of wire at the scene. The case is being investigated under Section 427 of the Penal Code and Section 37(1) of the Electricity Supply Act 1990.Police emphasized that stealing electricity for mining is not only illegal but can also cause significant losses to the power company and pose a fire risk.

The government of Kazakhstan is promoting the use of associated gas to power cryptocurrency mining, in order to restore the mining industry affected by power restrictions. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a decree in July requiring the establishment of mechanisms for enterprises to conduct digital mining using associated gas.Daniyar Mubarakov, head of the Blockchain and Digital Mining Association, stated that the total amount of associated gas in Kazakhstan can be converted into 1.2 to 1.3 terawatt-hours of electricity, sufficient to support medium or large data centers or Bitcoin mines in some oil fields. The Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan estimates that there are up to 60 oil fields in the country producing associated gas. Oil companies can sell waste gas to miners, reducing disposal costs by millions of dollars, while miners can lock in electricity prices for years, reducing dependence on grid power.The government of Kazakhstan is developing a relevant legal framework to clarify the operational rules for enterprises and regulate the market. Gizzat Baitursynov, Deputy Minister of AI and Digital Development of Kazakhstan, stated that this mechanism will increase government tax revenue and improve the environment.

The report "Eye on the Market" by Michael Cembalest from JPMorgan Private Bank was released on September 10, 2026, stating that Anthropic has committed to approximately 15 GW of additional power access, estimating the costs for cloud, chips, and data center leasing at around $500 billion, up from 1-2 GW previously. OpenAI aims to reach 30 GW by 2030, with data center spending of about $750 billion. Most of the power comes from grid or behind-the-meter natural gas generation, with nearly all of the on-site 75 GW being gas equipment, including deals like the $100 billion / 5000 MW agreement with Amazon AWS.The report also mentioned that OpenAI has not released a model claiming to provide a proof for the Navier-Stokes Millennium Prize Problem, which is under mathematical review, and there are rumors of progress on the Hodge Conjecture, while Anthropic has made progress on the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture. GPT-6 Astra scored 62% on the ARC-AGI-3 standard harness and 99% on the Provider Adapter. Francois Chollet pointed out that AGI progress is faster than expected.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance stated at the All-In Summit that U.S. AI data centers are facing increasing opposition, largely because the power supply has not kept up. Residents see data centers being built continuously while their electricity bills are rising, which naturally leads to backlash. He believes the solution is not to build fewer data centers but to increase power generation capacity accordingly.Vance mentioned that the U.S. has not built enough power facilities in the past generation, and in the future, it should pursue a state where "electricity is so cheap that it doesn't need to be metered." He also compared this to China, arguing that the slow growth of power generation in the U.S. in recent years has already affected the development of new industries like AI. "So cheap that it doesn't need to be metered" is an old slogan from the history of U.S. nuclear energy. In 1954, Lewis Strauss, the chairman of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, used it to describe the era of cheap electricity brought by atomic energy.The IEA estimates that data centers will contribute to about half of the new electricity demand in the U.S. by 2025; the U.S. Congress is also advancing legislation this week to try to prevent the costs of expanding data centers from being passed on to ordinary households.

According to foreign media reports, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix rejected a prepayment proposal for electricity bills put forward by the Korea Electric Power Corporation. The proposal originally required the two companies to pay electricity bills in advance to fund the construction of the power grid for a new technology cluster. Utility companies across Asia are struggling to keep up with the growing demand from the semiconductor and artificial intelligence industries due to tight funding.The Korea Electric Power Corporation's proposal is estimated by local media to total 250 trillion won, equivalent to five years' worth of electricity bills. A spokesperson for the Korea Electric Power Corporation stated via text message, "The two companies ultimately rejected the proposal from the Korea Electric Power Corporation." According to local media reports, the two chip manufacturers are concerned about the uncertainty of whether the current semiconductor boom can be sustained over the next five years.

According to Reuters, Mexican authorities discovered an illegal cryptocurrency mining operation in a remote mountainous building in Tehuacán, Puebla, where 300 GPUs, 80 medium-voltage terminals, and 8 satellite antennas were found on-site. Authorities are investigating whether the operation is stealing electricity from a nearby hydroelectric power station.This is the fourth similar crypto farm discovered in the area since early last year, with three others found near a hydroelectric power station in northern Puebla last year. Local residents reported that the noise from the equipment can be heard from a kilometer away. Mexican security analyst David Saucedo stated that drug trafficking groups seem to have reached a new level of sophistication, as establishing such operations requires technical expertise and support from well-funded groups.Chainalysis Latin America expert Caio Motta pointed out that such operations are usually located in areas with extremely low electricity prices or within the reach of organized crime to steal electricity and establish large-scale mining infrastructure.

The wealthiest state in India, Maharashtra, is formulating policies to tokenize state government assets (including power transmission infrastructure), with the funds raised to be used for constructing new transmission lines and energy storage facilities. The Chief Minister's Chief Economic Advisor and CEO of the Maharashtra Transformation Institute (MITRA), Praveen Pardeshi, introduced this plan at an invitation-only event called "The Box Launch," hosted by the real estate tokenization company RealX and MST Blockchain at the Mumbai World Trade Center.Pardeshi stated that transmission lines could be partially tokenized, for example, 40% to 50%, allowing investors holding tokens to receive a portion of the revenue from Maharashtra Transco. The new funds generated from token sales could be used to build more transmission lines and solar energy storage centers. He pointed out that the state currently has a significant surplus of solar power but lacks the grid capacity to deliver it to where it is needed; distribution companies must pay high prices of 16 to 18 rupees per unit during peak hours, while the price during surplus periods on the power exchange is only 2 paise per unit.He also illustrated the practice of real estate tokenization with the example of the Mumbai Express Towers commercial building tokenized under a REIT structure, emphasizing that tokenization does not equate to privatization but rather allows more citizens to participate in the development activities of public asset creation. Additionally, the state is drafting the Maharashtra Digital and Land Token Asset Trading Act (DELTA Act), which, if passed, will make it the first state in India to legislate for blockchain-based property tokenization.

According to Decrypt, the Mexican federal prosecutor, in conjunction with the Navy and Puebla state police, conducted a raid on a property in the remote mountainous area of Tlaola, Puebla, seizing approximately 300 cryptocurrency mining machines, as well as transformers, medium-voltage terminals, and satellite internet antennas.The investigation revealed that the mining operation illegally tapped into the grid of the Nuevo Necaxa hydroelectric power station, and authorities have filed charges for "theft of electricity." Currently, forensic accountants are tracing the source of the hardware funding, and money laundering suspicions have not been ruled out. Data from the Mexican Federal Electricity Commission shows that from January to July 2024, non-technical electricity losses reached up to 6,346 gigawatt-hours, valued at approximately 13.8 billion pesos (about 817 million USD).

South Korea plans to integrate five public power companies in October 2027 to accelerate investment and meet the energy demands brought about by the growth of the country's artificial intelligence and chip manufacturing industries.Seoul also plans to streamline public enterprises in the oil, gas, and port sectors.

The Korea Electric Power Corporation is negotiating a multi-billion dollar electricity prepayment plan with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to raise funds for the power grid needed to build a new semiconductor industry cluster. According to the current plan, Samsung Electronics will prepay 200 trillion won, and SK Hynix will prepay 50 trillion won, totaling 250 trillion won, which is approximately equivalent to the electricity costs for the next five years.In a statement, Korea Electric Power said that the large-scale electricity prepayment system is a mechanism that meets the needs of companies urgently needing to expand the power grid and Korea Electric Power, which requires investment funds. Specific details, including the amount of prepayment and the coverage period, have not yet been finalized.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) latest forecast shows that by 2035, electricity consumption by data centers in the United States will account for about 20% of the nation's total electricity consumption, a significant increase from the current level of about 5.9%. The agency has raised its forecast for data center electricity demand in 2035 to 106 GW, which is 36% higher than the 78 GW predicted in April this year. Currently, the operating capacity of data centers in the U.S. is about 40 GW, accounting for approximately 3.5%-4% of the national electricity demand, while under BNEF's baseline scenario, this proportion is expected to reach 8.6% by 2035. The high-growth model from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) indicates that if the combined effects of cryptocurrency mining and AI computing power are taken into account, the upper limit of this proportion also points to 20%.In response to the explosive growth in AI computing power demand, Bitcoin mining companies are actively transforming. Companies like Core Scientific and Riot Platforms have partnered with tech giants such as AWS and Google to convert their existing mining sites into AI data centers. Currently, Bitcoin mining companies have secured about 6 GW of electricity capacity, which is expected to expand to 12 GW by 2027, with some analysts estimating that about 20% of mining companies' computing power capacity will shift towards AI workloads by then. Data from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) shows that data centers now account for about 90% of local large load applications, with many sites originally used for cryptocurrency mining being repurposed as AI computing facilities. This trend is also directly reflected in the capital markets, as Core Scientific has seen a significant rebound in its stock price after emerging from bankruptcy and partnering with AI cloud service provider CoreWeave.