Miners Offer AI Compute Power

Mining infrastructure operators will repurpose GPU-based hardware to accelerate AI computations. Bloomberg reports.

The trend follows the switch of Ethereum’s consensus algorithm to Proof-of-Stake in September 2022 and the release of a large amount of computing power.

“If you can redeploy some of these investments and repurpose them into new workloads, it makes sense,” said Hut 8’s chief executive Jaime Leverton.

According to the company’s financial report, in 2022 the High-Performance Computing (HPC) division generated $16.9 million in revenue. This was driven in part by AI clients.

Hive Blockchain also said it aims to earn up to $10 million from HPC in 2024, with total revenue of around $98 million.

But not all crypto miners are ready for such transformations. According to Bitpro Consulting, only 5-10% of GPUs are amenable to AI repurposing.

The shift to HPC services will also require investment in additional equipment and personnel. At present, many miners are facing financial difficulties, Bloomberg noted.

In December, Core Scientific filed for bankruptcy. Several miners warned of liquidity shortages.

“But this could be a chance to recoup the $15 billion that firms spent on processors,” analysts say.

Luxor Technologies’ chief operating officer Ethan Vera said that miners will struggle to compete with giants like Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services. These platforms already have widely used tooling and support staff.

Nevertheless, miners’ experience in managing energy consumption could give them an edge, given the energy intensity of AI, Vera said.

“Miners need to find the advantages they have learned in mining to compete in HPC,” he said.

Vera added that companies that can successfully shift part of their business to high-performance computing will be able to reap financial benefits.

“But this won’t be an easy ride. Only the most experienced and persistent miners will truly manage it,” he concluded.

In April 2023, Hut 8 mined 132 BTC.

In May 2021, Nvidia acknowledged miners’ contribution to the growth of its business.