Microsoft has reportedly abandoned its plans to invest in new AI data centers in the US and Europe, leading to a drop in cryptocurrency mining stocks on March 26. Shares of major miners like Bitfarms, CleanSpark, Core Scientific, Hut 8, Marathon Digital, and Riot fell between 4% and 12%. The decline comes amid dynamic shifts in the market, particularly following the Bitcoin network's impending April 2024 halving, which is expected to impact mining revenues. Analysts indicate that the mining sector has been diversifying into AI data-center hosting to expand revenue streams. Microsoft's decision, attributed to concerns over oversupply in computing capacity, has compounded pressures on miners already facing declines in crypto prices. This year, Microsoft has canceled several data center leases and plans to slow further investments, focusing instead on existing centers where it has already committed around $80 billion.

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