Tech giant merges Bitcoin mining with AI infrastructure through Fluidstack deal. Google is stepping deeper into the digital asset ecosystem with a strategic investment in Cipher Mining (NASDAQ: CIFR), a U.S.-based Bitcoin mining company.
The tech giant will acquire a 5.4% equity stake in Cipher through a deal valued at $1.4 billion, structured around a long-term data center lease guarantee. The investment is tied to Cipher’s 10-year agreement with Fluidstack, an AI-focused cloud platform.
Under the arrangement, Google will backstop $1.4 billion in lease obligations, securing Cipher’s data center expansion and granting Alphabet’s subsidiary warrants for roughly 24 million shares of Cipher stock.
AI meets bitcoin mining
The partnership illustrates the growing convergence of crypto mining and artificial intelligence. Cipher will dedicate 168 megawatts of computing power from its Texas facilities to AI workloads, creating an estimated $3 billion in contracted revenue over the first decade of the Fluidstack deal.
By leveraging its mining infrastructure for dual purposes, Cipher is positioning itself as a bridge between Bitcoin’s energy-intensive operations and the surging demand for AI compute capacity.
“We are thrilled to be working with Fluidstack to develop HPC data centers, and we look forward to welcoming Google as an investor in Cipher. This transformative transaction reinforces our HPC momentum as we continue to attract attention for our large and growing pipeline of sites,” said Tyler Page, Cipher’s CEO.
Google’s involvement signals that Big Tech sees blockchain infrastructure as a viable foundation for next-generation digital services.
Market impact
The news immediately boosted Cipher’s stock performance. Shares surged 11% in premarket trading, climbing to $15.68 on the announcement. Cipher’s equity has already been on a strong run in 2025, more than doubling year-to-date with a 205% gain prior to Google’s investment.
Following the deal, Cipher became one of the most-discussed tickers on retail investor forums such as Stocktwits, highlighting broader market enthusiasm for the integration of crypto mining, AI, and cloud services.
Strategic implications
The deal also reflects a wider trend in which mining companies are diversifying beyond Bitcoin block rewards into adjacent industries like AI compute and data services, a hedge against Bitcoin’s halving cycles and volatile price environment.
Other industry players are also exploring similar synergies.
Marathon Digital, for example, has integrated AI-driven analytics to optimize energy consumption and improve mining efficiency, while Bitdeer uses AI to forecast mining profitability and dynamically allocate hash power across multiple networks. Even Blockstream is experimenting with AI-assisted monitoring for its Lightning Network nodes, highlighting a broader trend of AI optimizing blockchain operations.
The global crypto mining hardware market is projected to exceed $12 billion by 2026, while AI workloads in data centers are expected to grow at a 30–35% CAGR over the next five years. These parallel growth trends create a natural intersection for dual-purpose data centers, where mining infrastructure can seamlessly support AI processing demands.
In essence, Google + Cipher represents an example of that institutional investors see value not just in Bitcoin mining but also in leveraging mining infrastructure for next-generation AI compute workloads.
Tanya Petrusenko
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