Here's an interesting twist in the AI infrastructure story: the companies best positioned to power the AI revolution used to mine Bitcoin. Wall Street loves irony, and this might be the biggest one yet.

The problem is straightforward. Everyone wants to build AI data centers, but nobody has enough power to run them. Traditional data center development means navigating years of regulatory approvals and grid interconnection headaches. Meanwhile, former Bitcoin miners are sitting on large-scale energized power capacity that's already connected and ready to go. Tech giants like Microsoft and AWS need capacity yesterday, not in three years after permits clear.

The Analyst Call

On Wednesday, analysts from Citizens JMP initiated coverage on five companies making the transition from crypto mining to AI infrastructure, rating all of them Market Outperform:

• Cipher Mining Inc. (CIFR) with a $30 price target
• IREN Limited (IREN) with an $80 price target
• Nebius Group N.V. (NBIS) with a $175 price target
• Riot Platforms, Inc. (RIOT) with a $25 price target
• WhiteFiber Inc. (WYFI) with a $37 price target

The thesis isn't subtle: these companies control something the entire AI industry desperately needs, and they control it right now.

The Sputnik Comparison

Citizens JMP frames the current moment in dramatic terms, comparing it to the Space Race of the 1950s. "We believe we might be on the cusp of a 'Sputnik-like' moment, where government stimulus could greatly accelerate the U.S. effort to control AI globally," the analysts wrote.

The comparison works better than you might think. When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, it wasn't just a scientific achievement—it was a national security wake-up call that triggered massive federal spending. The analysts see AI infrastructure in similar terms: a strategic competition between the U.S. and China for technological supremacy.

The U.S. government seems to agree. The White House's "America's AI Action Plan" signals that direct federal funding could be coming. If policymakers decide the U.S. is falling behind, they might open the spending floodgates just like they did for the space program.

Regulatory Tailwinds

There's another potential catalyst: the government wants to streamline grid connections for new power sources. Instead of regulatory hurdles slowing everything down, Citizens sees the possibility of regulations actually speeding things up. When national security is on the line, red tape has a way of disappearing.

The Bigger Picture

Former Bitcoin miners are becoming critical strategic assets in the U.S.-China AI race because they offer the only immediate solution to the energy shortage plaguing hyperscalers. Their ready-to-deploy power infrastructure is exactly what tech giants need when they can't wait years for traditional data centers to come online.

Citizens JMP views this pivot from crypto mining to high-performance computing as a massive valuation unlock. The firm now covers these five companies alongside Applied Digital Corp. (APLD), Core Scientific, Inc. (CORZ), CoreWeave, Inc. (CRWV), Hut 8 Corp. (HUT), and TeraWulf, Inc. (WULF).

The investment case is simple: if AI is the next space race, these companies own the launch pads.