Kevin O’Leary said that to win the global AI arms race, the U.S. must start thinking like Bitcoin miners.
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Speaking at Consensus 2025 in Toronto, the Shark Tank star and O’Leary Ventures chairman declared that America’s edge in artificial intelligence will hinge on something deceptively basic: power. And according to O’Leary, no one knows how to handle massive power loads better than industrial-scale Bitcoin miners.
Amend the Grid, or Fall Behind
AI needs electricity, and lots of it. A single ChatGPT query consumes nearly ten times the energy of a typical Google search. As GPU demand spikes and traditional power grids max out, policymakers and investors are finally waking up to the brutal math of digital innovation. O’Leary says that means looking to the people who’ve been running mega-watt data centers for years: Bitcoin miners.
States like Texas, North Dakota, and West Virginia have emerged as unexpected front-runners. Why? They’re sitting on stranded natural gas and are willing to build from the ground up. Alberta, Canada, home to 200 trillion cubic feet of gas, has also grabbed attention, especially after Premier Danielle Smith signaled the province’s readiness to power next-gen tech.
Bitcoin Miners Already Have the Infrastructure AI Needs
With the recent Bitcoin halving squeezing margins, mining companies like Core Scientific (CORZ), Hive Digital (HIVE), and Hut 8 (HUT) are already pivoting into AI. The synergy makes sense: Both sectors need uninterrupted energy and huge cooling capacity. That overlap is turning former mining farms into dual-purpose AI-crypto hubs.
“It’s not just about Bitcoin anymore,” O’Leary said. “This is about the future of national competitiveness.”
A Foolish Tariff War While China Charges Ahead
But while the U.S. and Canada squabble over tariffs, China is already stacking coal-fired power plants weekly to fuel its own AI expansion. O’Leary calls the trade tension between the U.S. and Canada “foolish,” especially when energy cooperation could define the next economic epoch.
“We’ve got no more power on the grid. If you want a gigawatt, you have to build it yourself,” he said. That means nuclear, natural gas, or whatever it takes, because the AI war won’t be won on regulation or talent alone. It’ll be won with terawatts.
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