Bitcoin Miners Extend Pre-Market Gains as AI Demand Drives Optimism
Bitcoin (BTC, $118,137) miners are rallying in pre-market trading, fueled by growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure. Miners pivoting toward AI-related operations are seeing the biggest gains.
IREN (IREN) climbed 4% pre-market to $66 after a 6% jump Thursday, bringing its year-to-date gain above 520%. TerraWulf (WULF) rose 5% pre-market following a 10% surge Thursday, lifting its YTD gain to 150%. Cipher Mining (CIFR), CleanSpark (CLSK), and Bitfarms (BITF) all traded 2–4% higher pre-market.
The total market capitalization of Bitcoin miners now approaches $90 billion, according to Farside data, and could surpass $100 billion by year-end if momentum holds.
The rally is also supported by broader industry trends. Bloomberg reports Microsoft (MSFT) will face data center shortages into 2026 due to surging cloud and AI demand. Even with up to two gigawatts of new capacity, scaling remains a challenge, boosting optimism for Bitcoin miners expanding into AI and data center operations.
