The total cost of bitcoin mining has soared to $138,000, and mining companies are shifting en masse to AI/HPC businesses.

BlockBeats News, December 7, according to the latest data released by CryptoRank, the average cash cost for mining one bitcoin by mining companies has risen to $74,600. When including depreciation and stock-based compensation (SBC), the total cost reaches as high as $137,800.

As the total network hash rate surpasses the symbolic milestone of 1 ZH/s, competition has intensified significantly, leading to a sharp decline in miners' profitability. This trend is prompting many publicly listed mining companies to shift their capacity toward more profitable businesses such as AI/HPC (high-performance computing), rather than continuing to invest in traditional bitcoin mining. As a result, the industry is splitting into two main models:

• Infrastructure providers: repositioning mining farm data centers for high-profit computing businesses
• Traditional miners: struggling to survive in an increasingly competitive, near-zero profit environment