Nvidia’s AI Breakthrough: Bitcoin Miners Are Now Brokers!

by

Markets

What to know (if you’re not already asleep): 🥱

  • Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced the Vera Rubin platform, which promises five times the AI computing power of previous systems, is now in full production. Because nothing says “I’m a tech giant” like making your AI systems so powerful they need their own “pods” of 1,000 chips. 🤯
  • The Rubin platform will feature 72 GPUs and 36 CPUs per server, with the ability to scale into larger systems containing over 1,000 chips. Because who doesn’t want to run a server that’s basically a supercomputer? 🧠
  • The AI boom is reshaping the crypto market, with bitcoin miners pivoting to offer infrastructure services to AI customers, impacting data-center space and costs. Because nothing says “I’m a business” like selling your power contracts to AI startups. 💸

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the company’s next-generation Vera Rubin platform is already in “full production,” unveiling fresh details at CES in Las Vegas about hardware that he says can deliver five times the artificial-intelligence computing of Nvidia’s previous systems. Because who needs sleep when you can just upgrade your AI? 😴

Rubin is expected to arrive later this year and is aimed squarely at the fastest-growing part of the AI business, helping to deliver outputs from trained models. Because AI needs more power, and Bitcoin miners are just dying to be relevant again. 🚀

Huang said Rubin’s flagship server will include 72 of Nvidia’s graphics processing units and 36 central processors, and can be linked into larger “pods” containing more than 1,000 Rubin chips. Because nothing says “I’m a visionary” like building a server that’s basically a mini data center. 🏗️

Much of the talk was about efficiency. Huang said Rubin systems could improve the efficiency of generating AI “tokens” – the basic units produced by language models – by roughly 10 times, helped by a proprietary type of data the company wants the broader industry to adopt. Because who doesn’t want to adopt a proprietary data format? 🤔

Huang described AI development as a race where faster processing means reaching the next milestone sooner, forcing competitors to spend aggressively on chips, networking and storage. Because nothing says “I’m competitive” like spending billions on hardware. 💸

How bitcoin miners are impacted 🤯

That same infrastructure race has been reshaping parts of the crypto market too. Because nothing says “I’m a tech innovator” like being forced to pivot from mining Bitcoin to selling data-center space. 🏢

Bitcoin miners have increasingly marketed themselves as power-and-rackspace operators rather than pure crypto plays, pitching their energy contracts, cooling capacity and data-center footprints to AI customers. Because who needs a Bitcoin when you can have a steady income from AI? 💸

Hosting AI workloads can generate steadier cash flows than bitcoin mining during down cycles, especially for firms with cheap power, existing sites and cooling capacity. Because nothing says “I’m a responsible business” like relying on AI to save your bacon. 🧠

But the AI boom also raises the bar. Data-center space is becoming a premium asset, and the best sites get bid up by hyperscalers, cloud firms and AI startups. Because who needs affordable rent when you can bid against tech giants? 🏗️

That can lift rents, equipment costs and financing hurdles for smaller miners. In other words, miners that look like infrastructure companies may win, while those that rely on pure mining margins face a tougher 2026. Because nothing says “I’m a survivor” like hoping your data-center space isn’t sold to a startup. 🧨

Meanwhile, Nvidia also highlighted new networking switches using a connection method called co-packaged optics, a key technology for linking thousands of machines into a single system. Because who doesn’t want to connect 1,000 machines with a fancy name? 🌐

The company said CoreWeave will be among the first to receive Rubin systems, and expects Microsoft, Oracle, Amazon and Alphabet to adopt them as well. Because nothing says “I’m a big player” like getting your tech adopted by the biggest names in tech. 🚀

Read More

2026-01-07 08:41