Riot Platforms has signed a 20-year, 191-megawatt data center lease at its Rockdale, Texas campus that Bloomberg reports involves Anthropic, worth an expected $9.1 billion. Riot's stock jumped on the report, and the Bitcoin miner keeps selling BTC to help fund the buildout.
Riot Platforms has signed a 20-year lease for 191 megawatts of computing capacity at its Rockdale, Texas campus. The company expects the deal to generate approximately $9.1 billion over its initial term. Bloomberg identified the unnamed tenant as Anthropic, developer of the Claude AI models, citing people familiar with the matter.
The SEC filing named the customer only as a leading frontier AI lab, and neither company confirmed Anthropic's identity when Bloomberg asked. Riot declined to comment, and Anthropic did not respond.
Shares jump on the Anthropic report
Riot shares jumped about 25% to $24.40 in late trading after the report. The move followed second-quarter results showing revenue of $174.2 million, up 14% year over year. Riot also posted a $237.2 million quarterly net loss.
Two five-year extension options could push total contract revenue as high as $16.1 billion if exercised. Riot expects to deliver 96 megawatts by December 2027 and reach full deployment by June 2028, with the initial contract running through 2048.
Rockdale shifts from mining toward AI
Combined with an existing AMD lease at the site, Riot now has 241 megawatts of critical IT capacity under signed leases at Rockdale. The campus has 700 megawatts of developed, energized power capacity.
Riot has not exited mining, though: it produced 1,587 BTC in the second quarter, up from 1,426 BTC a year earlier. Mining revenue fell to $113.7 million from $140.9 million as prices declined and global hash rate rose.
Bitcoin sales keep funding the buildout
Riot ended June holding 11,380 BTC worth about $666 million, including 5,821 BTC held as collateral. The miner also held $548.9 million in cash at the same date. According to U.Today, Riot sold 3,778 BTC for about $289.5 million in the first quarter, more than twice what it mined that quarter.
Morgan Stanley has provided a $573 million interim financing facility to cover early construction. Riot estimates total project spending at $2.1 billion to $2.3 billion, with debt expected to cover 80% to 90% of that cost.
Sources: crypto.news, U.Today
Trading involves risk.
Risk Disclaimer
