Bitcoin miners write off $1.5 billion worth of rigs to chase AI

US-listed miners have slashed their Bitcoin hash rate by 75 EH/s. At current hardware prices that equals roughly $1.5 billion in stranded equipment now being written off, according to TheEnergyMag.

The shift started in late 2025 after the same firms spent at least $5 billion on new machines and pushed network hashrate past 1,400 EH/s. Once crypto revenue dropped and AI demand rose, many operators began repurposing sites without waiting for payback.

In the first half of 2026 the group booked $1.1 billion in impairments, with IREN and Core Scientific accounting for 89 % of the total. Cipher alone retired a freshly built cluster and booked a $96 million loss after it earned just $58 million.

Cash flow remains tight. TeraWulf collected $53 million from AI work but paid $131 million in interest alone. Lenders are also tightening terms, making fresh capital both scarcer and more expensive.

Based on information from https://cryptonews.net