Bitcoin miners are now facing a decision: grab market share or go all-in on AI? That’s the state of the mining industry in September from an equity return perspective. Several large miners with higher market capitalizations, MARA Holdings (MARA), Riot Platforms (RIOT), and CleanSpark (CLSK), all increased their share of total Bitcoin mining volume last month compared to August. These companies have stronger balance sheets and larger mining operations, which helped them cope with the decline in mining profitability caused by the Bitcoin halving in April. However, investors are not paying a premium for these stocks as they still underperformed in September. Meanwhile, miners focused on AI and HPC computing, such as Core Scientific (CORZ), TerraWulf (WULF), and IREN (IREN), outperformed Bitcoin in September. In addition, the recent approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF in the United States has also reduced investor interest in mining stocks. Instead, investors are rewarding miners that diversify their revenue by dedicating part of their data centers to hosting AI and HPC-related machines. (CoinDesk)