AI Companies Are Using Idle Capacity to Mine Bitcoin — A New Source of Profit and Stability
Several AI companies have begun leveraging excess data center capacity to mine Bitcoin. Faced with uneven usage patterns and rising operational costs, they’ve found a way to both stabilize infrastructure and monetize idle resources.
For instance, Mara Holdings launched a mining module directly within its AI cloud center. Riot Platforms uses up to 40% of capacity at a gas-powered Texas facility for Bitcoin mining — only during AI server downtime. These setups respond dynamically to grid demands: mining shuts off in milliseconds to free up power as needed.
Analyst Daniel Batten notes that AI-powered mining isn’t just a technical optimization anymore — it’s a resilience mechanism. Block generation becomes a side effect of infrastructure balancing and network stability.
