Cipher Mining Stock Soars Pre-Market On $50M SoftBank Investment: Retail Eyes Stargate AI Link

Cipher Mining Inc. (CIFR) jumped over 15% in pre-market trading Friday after securing a $50 million PIPE investment from SoftBank Group Corp., boosting retail investor sentiment.

If pre-market gains hold, the stock could recover losses from earlier this week, when shares declined Monday and Tuesday from the impact of China’s DeepSeek AI.

The investment from SoftBank, a giant in the technology investment space, will support Cipher Mining's push in the high-performance computing (HPC) data center market. 

A PIPE investment – Private Investment in Public Equity – is a transaction where private investors buy shares of a public company at a discount. 

While this provides the company with more capital, it’s considered to be one of the more expensive sources of capital.

Companies prefer it to secondary offerings because they offer fewer regulatory hurdles with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Cipher CEO Tyler Page called the investment a "pivotal moment" for the company, emphasizing SoftBank’s alignment with Cipher’s vision in AI-driven infrastructure.

“SoftBank’s focus on innovation in technology and AI development aligns with our vision to establish ourselves as a leader in HPC data center development,” Page added.

Cipher Mining produced 234 Bitcoin in December, according to its latest operational update, and ended the month with an active hashrate of 13.5 exahashes per second (EH/s). 

The Bitcoin miner’s total crypto holdings currently add up to 1,344 BTC, valued at around $140 million, according to Bitcoin Treasuries. 

Cipher Mining Sentiment and Message Volume on Jan.31 as of 7:55 a.m. ET | Source: Stocktwits

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around Cipher Mining surged further into the ‘extremely bullish’ zone as chatter remained at ‘extremely high’ levels.

Retail investors on the platform speculated that SoftBank’s investment could position Cipher for involvement in the Stargate AI project — a $500 billion initiative backed by Oracle, OpenAI, and SoftBank aimed at advancing U.S. artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Others compared Cipher’s stock movement to fellow Bitcoin miner Bitdeer, which surged last May after stablecoin issuer Tether invested $100 million.

Chipher’s stock has gained nearly 50% over the past year, largely driven by Bitcoin’s bull market following President Donald Trump’s election win in November. 

However, the shares are down nearly 3% year-to-date.

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