Riot Platforms Shares Surge 25% After $9.1 Billion Data Center Deal

Riot Platforms announced a 20-year data center lease agreement with an unnamed “leading frontier AI lab,” expected to generate approximately $9.1 billion in total contract revenue through 2048. The deal covers 191 megawatts of IT capacity at the company’s Texas facility, with two additional five-year extension options that could push the total contract value as high as $16.1 billion. Bloomberg reported the undisclosed partner is Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI models, though Riot has not officially confirmed the identity.

Phased Rollout Backed by Interim Financing

Capacity delivery will occur in stages, with the first 96 megawatts targeted for completion by December 2027 and the full amount ready by mid-2028. Riot secured a $573 million interim financing facility from Morgan Stanley to fund early development while it finalizes longer-term credit arrangements. Shares closed down slightly on the day but jumped more than 25% in after-hours trading following the announcement.

Second Major AI Deal This Year

This agreement follows an earlier data center lease signed with a major chipmaker in January, bringing Riot’s total contracted AI-related capacity to 241 megawatts and nearly $9.8 billion in long-term revenue.

The company’s leadership pointed to its energized power capacity and in-house infrastructure expertise as key differentiators. The announcement coincided with second-quarter results showing revenue growth alongside a net loss of $237.2 million, driven partly by bitcoin mining and engineering revenue gains despite the wider quarterly loss.