Bitcoin miner switches to AI

Hut 8, a former bitcoin miner, has signed a US$7 billion deal to lease a 245-megawatt data center in Louisiana for AI infrastructure, causing its shares to jump 21% in premarket trading. The 15-year lease agreement is part of a broader trend among crypto firms pivoting to AI hosting, leveraging their existing infrastructure. The deal involves partnerships with AI model developer Anthropic and infrastructure provider Fluidstack, with Alphabet-owned Google providing a financial backstop.