As Meta and Microsoft ramp up AI investment, bitcoin miners may reap the rewards.

Bitcoin mining stocks that have pivoted toward artificial intelligence infrastructure extended their rally into the new year, with earnings and guidance from Big Tech reinforcing expectations that AI-related spending will remain elevated.

Quarterly results and outlooks from Meta and Microsoft highlighted that neither company is pulling back on AI investment. Meta said it expects capital expenditures in 2026 to land between $115 billion and $135 billion, comfortably above consensus estimates near $110 billion. Microsoft also reiterated that AI sits at the core of its growth strategy for the years ahead.

“We’re still in the early stages of AI adoption,” Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella said, noting that the company’s AI business has already grown larger than several of its long-established franchises.

The continued surge in AI spending has meaningful implications for bitcoin miners. After last year’s halving slashed block rewards by 50%, miners faced mounting pressure from tighter margins, rising energy costs and intensifying competition. In response, many operators have repurposed their data centers to host AI and cloud-computing workloads, opening new revenue streams beyond bitcoin mining.

That strategic shift is already translating into high-profile partnerships. In November, Iren signed a multiyear cloud-services agreement with Microsoft to support AI workloads powered by Nvidia chips, underscoring its move into high-performance computing. Around the same time, Cipher Mining reached an agreement with Amazon to provide 300 megawatts of capacity to Amazon Web Services, one of the largest AI infrastructure deals struck by a bitcoin miner.

Markets have taken notice. Iren shares rose nearly 5% on Wednesday, lifting its gains to 47% year-to-date and more than 500% over the past year. Cipher Mining is up 17% so far this year and over 320% year-over-year, while Hut 8, another miner expanding into AI and high-performance computing, has climbed 26% year-to-date and roughly 230% over the same period.

The durability of the AI-driven investment thesis will face its next major test when Nvidia reports earnings on Feb. 25, an event closely watched for signals on the trajectory of AI capital spending.