Meta and Microsoft are significantly increasing their investments in artificial intelligence. Here’s how bitcoin miners might gain from this.

In its fourth quarter earnings announcement, Meta indicated that its capital expenditure plans for 2026 are expected to fall between $115-$135 billion, significantly surpassing consensus estimates.

No indication of AI spending slowdown (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Key points:

• Fourth-quarter earnings results from Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta (META) indicated that AI-related spending is not showing signs of slowing down.
• Microsoft emphasized that AI has now become one of its most significant business segments and pointed to potential long-term growth.
• Meta anticipated a substantial increase in capital expenditures for 2026 to support its Meta Super Intelligence Labs and its primary operations.

Shares of bitcoin mining companies that have adapted their business strategies to support artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure saw significant gains in 2025, a trend they have continued into the new year.

If the earnings reports from major tech firms this year are any indication, they may continue to benefit from this shift.

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The fourth-quarter results and 2026 projections released Wednesday evening from tech leaders Meta (META) and Microsoft (MSFT) — both of which have placed AI investment at the core of their growth strategies for this year and the future — demonstrate no signs of a slowdown in AI spending.

“We are just at the early stages of AI adoption, and already Microsoft has developed an AI business that surpasses some of our largest franchises,” stated Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. “We are advancing the frontiers across our entire AI stack to generate new value for our customers and partners.”

Meta, on the other hand, projects 2026 capital expenditures of $115-$135 billion, significantly exceeding consensus predictions of $110 billion.

Read more: GPU Gold Rush: Why Bitcoin Miners Are Powering AI’s Expansion

In light of reduced profits following the recent bitcoin halving event, which halved miners’ rewards, along with increased competition and power expenses, mining companies have shifted to utilizing their data centers for hosting AI and cloud computing systems. This strategic change has rescued many miners from financial distress, allowing them to diversify their income streams beyond traditional bitcoin mining and capitalize on the ongoing AI-related excitement.

In November, Iren (IREN) announced a multi-year cloud services agreement with Microsoft to support AI workloads using advanced Nvidia (NVDA) chips, indicating a significant move towards high-performance computing. Concurrently, Cipher Mining (CIFR) secured a contract with Amazon (AMZN) to provide 300 megawatts of capacity to Amazon Web Services (AWS), marking one of the largest infrastructure commitments from a bitcoin miner tapping into the AI surge.

IREN saw a 4.9% increase on Wednesday prior to the results, resulting in a year-to-date rise of 47% and an impressive 524% year-over-year increase. CIFR, which rose by 1.2% on Wednesday, is now up 17% in 2026 and 322% year-over-year.

Another miner that has effectively transitioned to AI infrastructure and high-performance computing is Hut 8 (HUT), which has experienced a 26% rise year-to-date and a 230% increase year-over-year.

The upcoming evaluation of the sustainability of optimism surrounding AI and cloud computing will occur with Nvidia’s next earnings report on February 25.

Read more: Bitcoin miners chase AI demand as Nvidia says Rubin is already in production