Riot Platforms said Monday it has signed a 20-year lease to supply 191 megawatts of data center capacity to a “leading frontier AI lab,” a contract the company expects to generate roughly $9.1 billion in revenue through June 2048. Bloomberg reported hours later that the unnamed counterparty is Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI models. Riot has not confirmed the name. RIOT shares closed down 5.46% on Monday, then rose 25.26% in after-hours trading to $24.30 once the report circulated. Two five-year extension options could push the contract’s total value to $16.1 billion.
IT capacity, quoted in megawatts, measures the electrical power a data center can deliver to computing equipment. It has become the standard unit for pricing AI infrastructure contracts, replacing server counts or floor space.
Key takeaways
- Riot signed a 20-year, 191-megawatt lease at its Rockdale, Texas campus worth about $9.1 billion, rising to $16.1 billion if both five-year extensions are exercised.
- Bloomberg identified the tenant as Anthropic. Riot’s own statement named only a “leading frontier AI lab.”
- RIOT stock jumped 25.26% after hours to $24.30 after closing the regular session down 5.46%.
- Riot reported a $237.2 million net loss for Q2 2026 on $174.2 million of revenue, against $219.5 million of net income a year earlier.
Published: August 11, 2026, 09:30 UTC
Power, not hardware, is the asset being sold
The lease covers Riot’s Rockdale campus in Texas, one of the largest sites built during the last bitcoin mining buildout. Delivery is phased: 96 megawatts targeted for December 2027, the full 191 megawatts by June 2028. Riot said it secured a $573 million interim financing facility from Morgan Stanley to fund early development while it works toward an investment-grade credit backstop.
That timeline explains the pricing. Grid interconnection queues in the United States now run for years, so already-energized capacity commands a premium that new construction cannot match. Riot’s advantage is that the power was approved and connected for mining rigs, and those rigs can be pulled out.
The company framed it in exactly those terms. “In just over six months, Riot has now executed leases totaling 241 megawatts of capacity, representing approximately $9.8 billion of long-term, contracted revenue with two of the most important companies in the AI ecosystem,” CEO Jason Les said in the earnings statement. The other 50 megawatts belongs to a lease signed with AMD in January, which began generating revenue this quarter.
Riot’s second quarter shows why the pivot happened now
Riot’s mining business is still the larger revenue line, but it is no longer the profitable one. Total Q2 revenue was $174.2 million, up 14% from $153 million a year earlier. Bitcoin mining contributed $113.7 million, engineering $37.3 million, and the new data center segment $23.2 million from the first 25 megawatts delivered to AMD.
The bottom line moved the other way. Riot recorded a net loss of $237.2 million, or $0.68 per diluted share, compared with net income of $219.5 million, or $0.58 per share, in Q2 2025. The company mined 1,587 bitcoin during the quarter and finished with more than $1.2 billion in liquid assets, including 11,380 bitcoin and $548.9 million in cash.
Mining margins have been compressed all year by a bitcoin price stuck near $64,000 and post-halving block rewards. Bitcoin traded at $63,989 on Tuesday morning. Balance sheet pressure has already pushed weaker operators out, including mining pool Poolin, which filed Chapter 11 with $173 million in debt, and it has pushed large bitcoin holders toward selling coins to cover obligations.
The rest of the sector has already moved
Riot is not early. Keel Infrastructure, the company formerly known as Bitfarms, said the same day that it had decommissioned all of its US bitcoin mining operations to prepare those sites for AI and high-performance computing tenants. Keel sold 1,085 BTC for $75 million between April 1 and August 7, leaving 1,861 BTC on its balance sheet, and reported a $141 million quarterly loss.
TeraWulf has said it intends to exit bitcoin mining entirely and has contracted roughly $12.8 billion of AI revenue. Core Scientific holds about $10 billion in contracted revenue through CoreWeave. IREN signed a five-year Microsoft agreement. Bitdeer shares fell 15% on Monday despite revenue growth, a reminder that announcing a pivot and financing one are different problems.
What to watch next
Three things determine whether the $9.1 billion becomes real revenue. First, confirmation: Riot has not named Anthropic, and The Block said it has asked the company to verify Bloomberg’s report. Second, financing: the $573 million Morgan Stanley facility is interim, and the investment-grade backstop Riot referenced has not been announced. Third, delivery: nothing is owed until capacity is energized, and the first tranche is 16 months out.
For the bitcoin network, the second-order effect is hashrate. Every megawatt Riot converts at Rockdale is a megawatt no longer running miners, and Riot has been among the largest US producers. If the conversions across Riot, Keel, TeraWulf, and Core Scientific land on schedule, network difficulty faces its first sustained supply-side drag from a competing use of power rather than from price.
Frequently asked questions
Did Riot confirm that Anthropic is the tenant?
No. Riot’s statement described the counterparty only as a “leading frontier AI lab.” Bloomberg reported on August 11 that the tenant is Anthropic, and other outlets followed that reporting. Riot has not publicly confirmed or denied the identification.
Is Riot quitting bitcoin mining?
Not yet. Mining generated $113.7 million of Riot’s $174.2 million in second-quarter revenue and the company produced 1,587 bitcoin. But 241 megawatts of its capacity is now contracted to AI and chip customers, and that share is set to grow through 2028.
When does Riot start collecting the $9.1 billion?
Revenue is tied to delivered capacity. Riot targets 96 megawatts by December 2027 and the full 191 megawatts by June 2028, with the lease running through June 2048. The figure is total contracted revenue across the 20-year term, not an annual number.
