publish date 2026-07-02
Welcome back! This is Canaan's weekly update on Bitcoin mining, energy, and compute infrastructure.
In May, solar supplied 12.8% of U.S. electricity and edged out coal at 12.2%, with the latter hitting its fourth-lowest monthly share ever, according to Ember. It was the first month on record that solar outproduced coal, with the electricity produced by the sun now being the third-largest source on the grid, behind only natural gas and nuclear. For context, five years ago, coal sat near 19.7% and solar near 5.4%. That growth is clearly demand-pulled: utility-scale solar contracting rose 15% year over year, much of it driven by tech companies locking in power for AI data centers.
What makes the crossover notable is that it happened in spite of federal policy, not because of it. Over the past year, the administration has moved to prop up coal, with roughly $700 million for coal plants and exports, while slowing clean-energy permitting and clawing back funding for affordable residential solar.
But solar kept setting records anyway. Republican-leaning and swing states accounted for 74% of all solar capacity installed in the first quarter, with Texas leading and Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Arizona, and Mississippi all in the top ten. This might be because tech companies have been signing utility-scale solar contracts to feed their AI data centers.
And in most solar- and wind-heavy markets, renewable curtailment runs into the double digits and keeps climbing as penetration rises. The grid still lacks ways to soak up power when it's cheap and step back when it isn't.
Into that imbalance walk two enormous new buyers. The first is AI. Hyperscale data centers want firm, around-the-clock power, and they're clogging the lines to get it. ERCOT alone is holding more than 438 GW of large-load interconnection requests, roughly 90% of it data centers.
The second one has been quietly adding flexibility for a decade. A Bitcoin mining load can ramp to full draw when power is abundant and switch off in seconds when it isn't. Canaan’s CEO and founder, NG Zhang, describes mining as a "financial battery": it stores value rather than electrons, taking power when it's cheap and releasing the grid when it's needed. In a well-designed portfolio, he argues, some load stays firm to customers while other load stays flexible to the grid.
AI can't really interrupt itself, so this new buildout intensifies demand for firm capacity while solar keeps adding intermittent supply. The gap between them is precisely where flexible load can earn a premium. The interesting twist is who's filling it. The likely equilibrium isn't mining or AI. It's a stack: firm compute where the economics demand reliability, flexible compute where the grid needs a shock absorber.
In the News
Project Spotlight
After the Avalon A821 established Canaan’s 16nm second-generation A8 platform in January 2018, the AvalonMiner A921 marked the next major Avalon step: an A9-series Bitcoin miner built around Canaan’s first-generation 7nm ASICs.
Canaan’s IPO prospectus listed the A821 at 11,000 GH/s and 0.11 W/GH, while the A921, released in August 2018, carried 104 ASICs, delivered 20,000 GH/s, and improved power consumption to 0.09 W/GH. That was roughly an 82% increase in hashrate and an 18% improvement in energy use per unit of hash compared with A821.
The A921 mattered because it came at the point where Bitcoin mining hardware was becoming a semiconductor execution game. Canaan disclosed that its 7nm ASIC design taped out in April 2018 and entered mass production with TSMC in August 2018, the same month the A921 was released. That was a live test of Canaan’s ability to push Avalon into advanced-process chip design while still shipping commercial mining systems.
Events and Media
In May, solar supplied 12.8% of U.S. electricity and edged out coal at 12.2%, with the latter hitting its fourth-lowest monthly share ever, according to Ember. It was the first month on record that solar outproduced coal, with the electricity produced by the sun now being the third-largest source on the grid, behind only natural gas and nuclear. For context, five years ago, coal sat near 19.7% and solar near 5.4%. That growth is clearly demand-pulled: utility-scale solar contracting rose 15% year over year, much of it driven by tech companies locking in power for AI data centers.
What makes the crossover notable is that it happened in spite of federal policy, not because of it. Over the past year, the administration has moved to prop up coal, with roughly $700 million for coal plants and exports, while slowing clean-energy permitting and clawing back funding for affordable residential solar.
But solar kept setting records anyway. Republican-leaning and swing states accounted for 74% of all solar capacity installed in the first quarter, with Texas leading and Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Arizona, and Mississippi all in the top ten. This might be because tech companies have been signing utility-scale solar contracts to feed their AI data centers.
And in most solar- and wind-heavy markets, renewable curtailment runs into the double digits and keeps climbing as penetration rises. The grid still lacks ways to soak up power when it's cheap and step back when it isn't.
Into that imbalance walk two enormous new buyers. The first is AI. Hyperscale data centers want firm, around-the-clock power, and they're clogging the lines to get it. ERCOT alone is holding more than 438 GW of large-load interconnection requests, roughly 90% of it data centers.
The second one has been quietly adding flexibility for a decade. A Bitcoin mining load can ramp to full draw when power is abundant and switch off in seconds when it isn't. Canaan’s CEO and founder, NG Zhang, describes mining as a "financial battery": it stores value rather than electrons, taking power when it's cheap and releasing the grid when it's needed. In a well-designed portfolio, he argues, some load stays firm to customers while other load stays flexible to the grid.
AI can't really interrupt itself, so this new buildout intensifies demand for firm capacity while solar keeps adding intermittent supply. The gap between them is precisely where flexible load can earn a premium. The interesting twist is who's filling it. The likely equilibrium isn't mining or AI. It's a stack: firm compute where the economics demand reliability, flexible compute where the grid needs a shock absorber.
In the News
- Crypto industry groups urge Congress to pass tax staking and mining bill unchanged
- Ionic Raises $400M as AI Revenue Tops Bitcoin Mining Ahead of Nasdaq Listing
- Bitdeer signs a colocation lease for its Tydal, Norway AI data center
- Sphere 3D Seeks DarkHorse Rebrand as It Pivots Toward AI Infrastructure
- Applied Digital Expands Credit Facility to $430M as AI Factory Buildout Continues
- BTC price (USD): ~$60,022
- Network hashrate: ~963 EH/s
- Difficulty: 133.87T
- Hashprice: ~$28.55 / PH / day
Project Spotlight
After the Avalon A821 established Canaan’s 16nm second-generation A8 platform in January 2018, the AvalonMiner A921 marked the next major Avalon step: an A9-series Bitcoin miner built around Canaan’s first-generation 7nm ASICs.
Canaan’s IPO prospectus listed the A821 at 11,000 GH/s and 0.11 W/GH, while the A921, released in August 2018, carried 104 ASICs, delivered 20,000 GH/s, and improved power consumption to 0.09 W/GH. That was roughly an 82% increase in hashrate and an 18% improvement in energy use per unit of hash compared with A821.
The A921 mattered because it came at the point where Bitcoin mining hardware was becoming a semiconductor execution game. Canaan disclosed that its 7nm ASIC design taped out in April 2018 and entered mass production with TSMC in August 2018, the same month the A921 was released. That was a live test of Canaan’s ability to push Avalon into advanced-process chip design while still shipping commercial mining systems.
Events and Media
- NG Zhang joined the Energy Investors Forum speaker series to argue that AI's real buildout has barely begun and that compute may follow a more complex version of the Bitcoin mining hardware curve.
- Leo Wang hosted an X Space yesterday, where he chatted with Jamie Gill, senior vice president of business development at Luxor.
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