Bitcoin Miners are now a key part of the artificial intelligence (AI) chain, Wall Street broker Bernstein said in a note Monday updating its model for the sector.
The broker argued that large-scale miner infrastructure and facilities have become critical to AI data centers, which are seen as the biggest implementation bottleneck for the industry’s rapid growth.
Every listed US Bitcoin miner the broker caps is pivoted towards maximizing the value of its power assets instead of betting on the Bitcoin Price Upside, analysts led by Gautam Chhugani wrote.
The firm’s analysts abandoned their discounted cash flow (DCF) method in favor of a sum-of-parts valuation, combining Miners’ Bitcoin holdings, mining EBITDA, AI co-location and cloud revenues, and the potential cost of power sites marked for AI data centers—using a conservative $3 million per megawatt (MW) lot.
Bernstein raised its price target for Core Scientific (CORZ) to $24 from $17, citing the company’s pivot toward high-performance computing (HPC) colocation and its plan to deliver about 590 megawatts of IT load by early 2027.
The report noted that shareholders’ rejection of the Coreweave deal gives management more room to optimize value and hinted at a new partnership expected in the fourth quarter.
Riot Platforms (Riot) also saw its target raised to $25 from $19, reflecting the AI potential of the 1-gilawatt corsicana site. While CleanSpark (CLSK) was raised to $24 from $20 as it moves towards a Bitcoin-AI hybrid model through new hires and partnerships.
Bernstein rates Iren, Corz, Riot, and CLSK outperform, the broker said that Bitcoin miners with active or potential AI contracts are once again rated by the market as key enablers of the next generation of computing infrastructure.
Mining stocks were flying in premarket trading following Iren’s news AI Cloud Deal with Microsoft.
Iren was 21% higher in early trade, around $60.75. Basic science shares were 6.8% higher at $23. Riot stock was 3% higher at $20.38. CleanSpark rose 3.6% to $18.44.
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