JPMorgan Upgrades Cipher and CleanSpark as Bitcoin Miners Pivot Toward High-Performance Computing

Wall Street bank JPMorgan is raising its outlook on U.S.-listed bitcoin miners, citing a wave of high-performance computing (HPC) deals that are reshaping business models and providing greater long-term revenue visibility.

The bank upgraded Cipher Mining (CIFR) to overweight from neutral and raised its price target to $18 from $12. Shares climbed 4.2% in early trading to $14.74. CleanSpark (CLSK) also received an overweight rating, rising 4.6% in pre-market trading to $10.18.

Meanwhile, IREN saw its price target lifted to $39 from $28, though JPMorgan maintained its underweight rating. Shares traded 2.2% higher at $43.20.

Conversely, MARA Holdings (MARA) and Riot Platforms (RIOT)—both already rated overweight—saw price target cuts due to the lower bitcoin price, with MARA trimmed to $13 from $20 and RIOT to $17 from $19. MARA rose 2.8% to $10.35, and RIOT gained 1.8% to $12.94.

JPMorgan highlighted over $19 billion in contracted revenue across 600 megawatts (MW) of critical IT capacity signed by IREN and Cipher since late September. The bank views this as evidence of miners’ accelerating transition from bitcoin-only operations to hybrid HPC models. JPMorgan now expects roughly 1.7 gigawatts (GW) of critical IT capacity across its coverage by late 2026, led by IREN and Cipher.

Cipher’s 45% pullback from recent highs is seen as a compelling entry point, given its roughly 600 MW of contracted capacity with major tenants like AWS and Fluidstack. CleanSpark’s upgrade reflects about 200 MW of potential HPC capacity at its new Texas facility.

JPMorgan analysts now assign higher equity value per megawatt—$8M–$17M for colocation and up to $19M for integrated cloud—driven by lower discount rates and stronger cash-flow visibility. While Riot and CleanSpark show the most upside under a full HPC conversion, Cipher retains the largest long-term optionality when factoring in potential future capacity.