The digital asset and high-performance computing market continues to demonstrate remarkable synergy. On July 20, mining company Hut 8 signed a massive 15-year lease deal for the second phase of its AI campus Beacon Point in Texas. The contract value amounted to $9.8 billion, making it one of the largest agreements in the sector in recent years.

Notably, the lessee is the same counterparty as for the first phase of the project. Although the partner's name has not been disclosed, Hut 8 emphasizes its high investment rating, indicating significant trust in the project from major institutional players.

Under the terms of the deal, Hut 8 will build an additional 352 MW of computing capacity based on Nvidia architecture. Thus, the lessee's total contracted capacity at the site will grow to 704 MW. This fully commercializes the 1 GW Beacon Point campus, with the base contract value reaching $19.6 billion. Including extension options, this figure could soar to $50.2 billion.

Across Hut 8's entire AI data center portfolio, 949 MW is already contracted. The total base value of all agreements stands at $26.6 billion, with an average annual net operating income exceeding $1.75 billion. These figures clearly demonstrate how miners are transforming into infrastructure providers for artificial intelligence.

The market reaction was immediate. Hut 8 shares surged 10% to $104.51. A wave of optimism also swept over other players: Cipher Mining shares rose 15.4%, TeraWulf — 5.4%. The CoinShares Bitcoin Miners ETF gained 10.6%.

IREN: New Horizons in Cloud AI

Meanwhile, another Bitcoin miner — IREN — announced the signing of new cloud AI service contracts worth $2.8 billion. Against the backdrop of these deals, the company raised its annual revenue forecast for the AI Cloud segment for 2026 from $3.7 billion to over $4 billion. Approximately 85% of this amount is already secured by signed agreements.

Among IREN's clients are giants such as Microsoft, Nvidia, Perplexity, Figure AI, Together AI, Fluidstack, Fireworks AI, Fal AI, and Hume AI. The company described another new customer as a "leading AI developer" without disclosing its name.

Importantly, the new contracts include prepayments covering about 45% of the capital expenditures for the corresponding GPUs. This significantly reduces IREN's need for external financing. The weighted average term of client agreements is approximately four years, and as of June 30, the company held roughly $7.6 billion in cash and cash equivalents.

"Our vertically integrated AI Cloud platform is scaling at a rapid pace. Over the past 12 months, we have grown from approximately 3 MW of proprietary AI Cloud capacity to 480 MW being delivered this year, with a target of 1.2 GW by 2027," said Daniel Roberts, co-founder and co-CEO of IREN.

Following the announcement, IREN shares surged 18.7%.

Analyst's opinion: The current momentum of mining companies is not just a temporary hype. We are witnessing a fundamental shift: Bitcoin miners are becoming key infrastructure providers for AI. Their unique expertise in managing energy-intensive data centers and access to cheap energy make them ideal partners for AI developers. The market is recognizing this, and we will likely see further consolidation and capitalization growth in this sector.