比特币矿工正在转向人工智能来生存。核心科学多年前就参加了比赛

人工智能集群和比特币挖矿业务的需求截然不同。 Core Scientific 的首席开发官深入探讨了实际情况。

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

比特币矿商 Core Scientific (CORZ) 周二宣布达成一项协议，帮助云计算公司 CoreWeave 扩展其人工智能能力。

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.

该协议将使 Core Scientific 建立一个适合人工智能集群的数据中心，而 CoreWeave 为客户提供高计算服务并最终拥有机器和软件堆栈。

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 能够定制基础设施的每一点，使其适合特定应用，满足人工智能车队和比特币挖矿的特定需求。

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，电力基础设施对于采矿和人工智能应用来说是完全不同的。如果比特币矿场停电，这并不是世界末日，因为根据电价打开和关闭机器的能力是比特币挖矿的一个重要方面，以至于许多公司都使用这种技术以战略方式发挥作用。

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.

但人工智能车队需要持续的正常运行时间，这意味着实施昂贵的电源冗余措施，包括电池、备用发电机和不间断电源（UPS）系统。

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.

另一个例子：无论您是挖掘比特币还是运行人工智能集群，都必须冷却机器以避免过热 - 但最佳冷却方法将取决于应用程序。大多数比特币设备都是通过风扇或浸入介电液池中来冷却的，这种方法的成本很低。另一方面，用于人工智能的 GPU 需要某种形式的空调，或者让流体流过机器的硅芯片——这两种方法会消耗大量能源。

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.

当你观察人工智能车队与比特币挖矿作业所使用的硬盘类型，或者每个站点所需的光纤和连接数量时，就会发现其他差异。

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：与比特币挖矿业务相比，人工智能站点往往更昂贵且通用性较差，比特币挖矿业务可以部署在世界各地各种偏远地区。这就是为什么 Core Scientific 在检查新网站时的经验法则，将首先确定其经济性是否对人工智能目的有意义，如果没有，则从比特币挖掘的角度来看待它。

“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.

“如果我建造一个世界级的风冷比特币采矿场，我可能会花费每兆瓦 50 万至 75 万美元，”Cann 说。但他表示，对于人工智能相关的 GPU，每兆瓦的成本将攀升至 1000 万至 1200 万美元。

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.

这无疑让我们能够正确看待与 CoreWeave 达成的 500 兆瓦交易的规模。按照这一标准，构建 CoreWeave 所需的基础设施将花费大约 50 亿美元。根据孤星州电网运营商德克萨斯州电力可靠性委员会的数据，该项目规模足够大，可以为大约 10 万户家庭供电。大部分电力将于 2025 年和 2026 年上线。

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 总足迹的一小部分。该公司目前拥有价值 1,600 兆瓦的重型电力基础设施，并签署了 1,200 兆瓦的电力采购协议。

Lots of experience to draw on

有很多经验可供借鉴

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 之所以如此擅长构建特定于应用程序的基础设施，是因为该公司拥有使用各种高性能计算机的丰富经验。

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 年以太坊将其共识机制从工作量证明转变为权益证明之前，该公司就使用 GPU 来开采以太坊 (ETH)。使用类似的 GPU，Core Scientific 于 2019 年初开始托管人工智能集群，Cann早在 ChatGPT 和芯片制造商 Nvidia 震撼世界之前就说过了。

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.

该公司于 2022 年 11 月停止运营其部门，不久之后就进入了第 11 章破产保护。 Core Scientific 的重组计划获得批准后，于一月份摆脱了破产困境。

“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.”

“很多人都在谈论我们转向人工智能，但我们已经从事人工智能很长时间了，”坎恩说。 “我们正在利用市场条件，再次扩大我们的人工智能业务。”

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，快节奏的比特币挖矿世界塑造了这个团队，该团队的成员拥有数十年构建传统数据中心的经验，这使其比从未涉足比特币的竞争对手更具优势。

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

“比特币是一个一年 365 天、每天 24/7 的全球市场。它总是在移动，”坎恩说。

“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.”

“一些没有挖掘比特币经验的传统人，他们只是会落后一点，因为他们必须赶上快速迭代，”他补充道。 “人工智能是我见过的唯一与比特币挖矿迭代速度一样快的东西。”