New York, May 19, 2026, 17:06 ET
CleanSpark shares rose more than 9% late Tuesday, among the few gainers in a soft U.S. session after Bernstein pointed to bitcoin miners with hefty grid power as key for AI data centers. The stock traded up 9.3% to $14.69, after hitting $14.93 earlier.
This has started to matter as investors no longer see some miners just as ways to bet on bitcoin. They’re now looking at whether those miners can convert power agreements, land, and data-center footprints into high-performance computing for AI workloads.
Bernstein analysts led by Gautam Chhugani called miners an “integral part of the AI value chain,” Sherwood News said. The firm set a $24 price target on CleanSpark. Bernstein said the industry has announced over $90 billion in AI-related deals, covering 3.7 gigawatts of capacity. A gigawatt is 1,000 megawatts. Sherwood News
Wall Street’s big indexes finished the day down on Tuesday, Reuters said, with the Nasdaq falling the most. Treasury yields climbed as inflation fears lingered, pressuring the market. The move came as the broader tape stayed soft.
CleanSpark outperformed bitcoin along with most mining stocks. Bitcoin traded close to $76,944 and was mostly flat. MARA added 2.3%. Riot Platforms dropped 2.3%.
CleanSpark is floating a new AI angle days after posting weak earnings. Last week the company reported revenue dropped 24.9% to $136.4 million. Net loss grew to $378.3 million, driven by bitcoin fair-value moves. With fair-value accounting, or mark-to-market, assets get revalued to market prices.
CleanSpark’s management is steering the focus elsewhere. In its April update, the company said it mined 640 bitcoin for the month, held 13,453 bitcoin as of April 30, and had 1.8 gigawatts under contract. CEO Matt Schultz said at the time, “Bitcoin mining funds the platform, AI monetizes it.” PR Newswire
CleanSpark CFO Gary Vecchiarelli told analysts on the May 11 earnings call that mining is still the core business, but AI and HPC might bring longer-term cash flows. He said the company’s liquidity at March 31 was near $1.2 billion, with $260 million in cash and 13,561 bitcoin. Vecchiarelli also pointed to $400 million in bitcoin-backed credit capacity.
Commercial use is the next step. CleanSpark said it’s pushing AI tenancy at several sites, naming Sandersville, Georgia, and locations in Texas. On the earnings call, Schultz said the firm is moving forward with a main prospective tenant for Sandersville. He also mentioned about 900 megawatts of potential utility capacity split between Sealy and Brazoria near Houston.
The stock’s new story is mixed. Nic Puckrin, co-founder of Coin Bureau, told Sherwood he wouldn’t assume every miner shifting to AI is “automatically a winner.” Bernstein also mentioned ongoing sector issues with permitting, zoning, environmental, and grid-capacity problems. Sherwood News
CleanSpark points to several risks—bitcoin price swings, power supply limits, regulatory signoffs, and its non-bitcoin data-center business. The company said a late hyperscale lease, softer bitcoin price or tougher lending market could put the focus back on its money-losing quarter.
Tuesday’s session saw traders shrug off the mining cycle. It’s still up in the air if CleanSpark will land AI deals from its limited power supply before the market circles back to how much is actually bitcoin with this story.
