The cost of mining Bitcoin has surged dramatically, with the average cash cost now at $74,600 and total costs, including depreciation and stock-based compensation, reaching $137,800, according to CryptoRank data as of December 7, 2025. This increase comes as the network hash rate exceeds 1 ZH/s, intensifying competition and reducing profitability for miners. In response to these challenges, many publicly listed mining companies are transitioning to more lucrative AI and high-performance computing (HPC) operations. The industry is diverging into two distinct models: infrastructure providers repurposing mining data centers for high-margin computing tasks, and traditional miners facing a near-zero-profit environment.