比特幣礦工正在轉向人工智慧來生存。核心科學多年前就參加了比賽

人工智慧集群和比特幣挖礦業務的需求截然不同。 Core Scientific 的首席開發長深入探討了實際情況。

Bitcoin miner Core Scientific (CORZ) announced a deal on Tuesday to help cloud-computing firm CoreWeave expand its artificial intelligence capabilities.

比特幣礦商 Core Scientific (CORZ) 週二宣布達成協議，協助雲端運算公司 CoreWeave 擴展其人工智慧能力。

The agreement will see Core Scientific build a data center suited for AI clusters, while CoreWeave provides high computational services to clients and ultimately owns the machines and software stack.

該協定將使 Core Scientific 建立一個適合人工智慧叢集的資料中心，而 CoreWeave 為客戶提供高運算服務並最終擁有機器和軟體堆疊。

Core Scientific is able to customize every bit of infrastructure to make it application specific, catering to the specific needs of AI fleets and bitcoin mining.

Core Scientific 能夠客製化基礎設施的每一點，使其適合特定應用，滿足人工智慧車隊和比特幣挖礦的特定需求。

For example, the power infrastructure is completely different for mining and AI applications. If the power goes down in a bitcoin mine, it’s not the end of the world, because the ability to switch your machines on and off depending on the price of electricity is an essential facet of bitcoin mining, to the point that many firms use that function in a strategic manner.

例如，電力基礎設施對於採礦和人工智慧應用來說是完全不同的。如果比特幣礦場停電，這並不是世界末日，因為根據電價打開和關閉機器的能力是比特幣挖礦的一個重要方面，以至於許多公司都使用這種技術以戰略方式發揮作用。

But AI fleets need constant uptime, and that means implementing expensive power redundancy measures, including batteries, backup generators and uninterruptible power supply, or UPS, systems.

但人工智慧車隊需要持續的正常運作時間，這意味著實施昂貴的電源冗餘措施，包括電池、備用發電機和不間斷電源（UPS）系統。

Another example: Whether you’re mining bitcoin or running an AI cluster, machines must be cooled to avoid overheating – but the optimal cooling method will depend on the application. Most bitcoin rigs are cooled by fans or by being submerged in a pool of dielectric fluid, which comes at little cost. The GPUs used for AI, on the other hand, require some form of air conditioning, or to pass fluid over the machine’s silicon chip – two methods that consume large amounts of energy.

另一個例子：無論您是挖掘比特幣還是運行人工智慧集群，都必須冷卻機器以避免過熱 - 但最佳冷卻方法將取決於應用程式。大多數比特幣設備都是透過風扇或浸沒在介電液池中來冷卻的，這種方法的成本很低。另一方面，用於人工智慧的 GPU 需要某種形式的空調，或讓流體流過機器的矽晶片——這兩種方法會消耗大量能源。

Other differences emerge when you look at the kind of hard drives used for AI fleets compared to bitcoin mining operations, or the amount of fiber and connectivity that is needed for each site.

當你觀察人工智慧車隊與比特幣挖礦作業所使用的硬碟類型，或每個站點所需的光纖和連線數量時，就會發現其他差異。

Big picture: AI sites tend to be much more expensive and less versatile than bitcoin mining operations, which can be plopped in all kinds of remote locations all around the world. That’s why Core Scientific, as a rule of thumb when examining a new site, will determine whether the economics of it makes sense for AI purposes first, and, if not, look at it from a bitcoin mining perspective.

大局：與比特幣挖礦業務相比，人工智慧站點往往更昂貴且通用性較差，比特幣挖礦業務可以部署在世界各地各種偏遠地區。這就是為什麼 Core Scientific 在檢查新網站時的經驗法則，將首先確定其經濟性是否對人工智慧目的有意義，如果沒有，則從比特幣挖掘的角度來看待它。

“If I built a world-class air-cooled bitcoin mining site, I'm going to spend probably between $500,000 to $750,000 per megawatt,” Cann said. But that cost climbs up to $10 million to $12 million by megawatt for AI-related GPUs, he said.

「如果我建造一個世界級的風冷比特幣採礦場，我可能會花費每兆瓦 50 萬至 75 萬美元，」Cann 說。但他表示，對於與人工智慧相關的 GPU，每兆瓦的成本將攀升至 1,000 萬至 1,200 萬美元。

That certainly puts the size of the 500-megawatt deal with CoreWeave into perspective. By that measure, it will cost roughly $5 billion to build the infrastructure CoreWeave needs. The project will be big enough that it could power roughly 100,000 homes, according to data from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas – the Lone Star State’s electrical grid operator. Most of that power will be coming online in 2025 and 2026.

這無疑讓我們能夠正確看待與 CoreWeave 達成的 500 兆瓦交易的規模。按照這項標準，建立 CoreWeave 所需的基礎設施將花費約 50 億美元。根據孤星州電網營運商德州電力可靠性委員會的數據，該計畫規模足夠大，可以為大約 10 萬戶家庭供電。大部分電力將於 2025 年和 2026 年上線。

It’s still just a fraction of Core Scientific’s total footprint. The firm currently owns 1,600 megawatts worth of heavy electrical infrastructure and has 1,200 megawatts of power purchase agreements.

它仍然只是 Core Scientific 總足跡的一小部分。該公司目前擁有價值 1,600 兆瓦的重型電力基礎設施，並簽署了 1,200 兆瓦的電力採購協議。

Lots of experience to draw on

有很多經驗可供借鏡

According to Cann, the reason Core Scientific is so good at building application-specific infrastructure is because the firm has a wealth of experience using all kinds of high compute machines.

Cann 表示，Core Scientific 之所以如此擅長建立特定於應用程式的基礎設施，是因為該公司擁有使用各種高效能電腦的豐富經驗。

For example, the company used GPUs to mine ether (ETH) back before Ethereum switched its consensus mechanism from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake in 2022. Using similar GPUs, Core Scientific started hosting AI clusters in early 2019, Cann said, way before ChatGPT and chipmaker Nvidia shook the world.

例如，早在2022 年以太坊將其共識機制從工作量證明轉變為權益證明之前，該公司就使用GPU 來開採以太坊(ETH)。 ，Cann早在 ChatGPT 和晶片製造商 Nvidia 震撼世界之前就說過了。

The firm stopped running its unit in November 2022, soon before entering Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Core Scientific emerged from bankruptcy in January after receiving approval for its restructuring plan.

該公司於 2022 年 11 月停止營運其部門，不久之後就進入了第 11 章破產保護。 Core Scientific 的重組計劃獲得批准後，於一月份擺脫了破產困境。

“A lot of people talk about us pivoting into AI, but we've been doing AI for a long time,” Cann said. “We’re taking advantage of market conditions and expanding our AI piece back again.”

「很多人都在談論我們轉向人工智慧，但我們已經從事人工智慧很長時間了，」坎恩說。 “我們正在利用市場條件，再次擴大我們的人工智慧業務。”

And the fast-paced world of bitcoin mining has shaped the team – which counts people with decades of experience building traditional data centers – in a way that gives it an edge over their competitors who’ve never been involved with bitcoin, Cann said.

Cann 表示，快節奏的比特幣挖礦世界塑造了這個團隊，該團隊的成員擁有數十年建立傳統資料中心的經驗，這使其比從未涉足比特幣的競爭對手更具優勢。

“Bitcoin is a 24/7, 365 days a year, global market. It's always moving,” Cann said.

「比特幣是一個一年 365 天、每天 24/7 的全球市場。它總是在移動，」坎恩說。

“Some of the traditional guys that don’t have experience mining bitcoin, they're just going to be a little bit behind, because they have to catch up on that fast iteration,” he added. “AI is the only thing I've ever seen that iterates as fast as bitcoin mining.”

「一些沒有挖掘比特幣經驗的傳統人，他們只是會落後一點，因為他們必須趕上快速迭代，」他補充道。 “人工智慧是我見過的唯一與比特幣挖礦迭代速度一樣快的東西。”