Bernstein analysts noted that Texas Governor Greg Abbott's order to audit all data center projects in the state will curb speculative development and increase the scarcity value of already approved power capacity. This is expected to benefit existing Bitcoin miners and AI operators. The audit led grid operator ERCOT to pause its "Batch Zero" process, with data centers currently accounting for about 90% of ERCOT's 474 GW interconnection queue. Analysts emphasized that while some developers' expansion plans may face delays, existing operations are unaffected. Bernstein assigned "Outperform" ratings to Cipher Digital (CIFR), CleanSpark (CLSK), IREN (IREN), Core Scientific (CORZ), Riot Platforms (RIOT), and Terawulf (WULF), and an "Market Perform" rating to Marathon Digital (MARA). The report also mentioned that over the past two years, mining companies have contracted 8 GW of power capacity with hyperscalers, new cloud providers, and AI chip manufacturers.