Riot Platforms (RIOT) shares surged more than 20% before U.S. equity markets opened on Tuesday after the bitcoin miner signed a $9.1 billion deal with "a leading frontier AI lab," identified by Bloomberg as Anthropic.
The 20-year agreement covers 191 megawatts of computing capacity at Riot's Rockdale, Texas, campus. Two five-year extension options could increase total contract revenue to $16.1 billion. Riot projects the base term will generate between $7.3 billion and $8.2 billion in cumulative net operating income.
Deployment at the Riot sites starts in December 2027, with the full buildout expected by June 2028. The deal follows Riot's earlier lease with chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), bringing contracted AI capacity at Rockdale to 241 megawatts. Riot delivered an initial 25 megawatts during the second quarter and is constructing a further 25 megawatts.
Miners Pivot to AI Infrastructure
Once focused almost entirely on bitcoin mining, Riot exemplifies an industry-wide pivot toward AI infrastructure, with long-term leases providing steadier revenue than the volatile flows from approving blocks on Bitcoin. Miners control large sites with established grid connections, land and cooling systems, allowing them to serve power-hungry AI customers faster than developers starting from scratch. Anthropic recently signed a separate six-year, $10 billion contract with Volta Infra for computing capacity at a site in Norway operated by bitcoin miner Bitdeer.