TeraWulf, a Nasdaq-listed bitcoin miner, signed a 20-year lease with Anthropic on Monday that is expected to generate about $19 billion in contracted revenue, a figure that dwarfs the company’s roughly $12 billion market value. The AI developer will occupy about 401 megawatts of computing capacity at TeraWulf’s Justified Data campus in Hawesville, Kentucky, with the first power scheduled for the second half of 2027 and the full build online by early 2028. Shares jumped as much as 17% after the announcement, according to CoinDesk, extending a run that has turned the former pure-play miner into one of the market’s clearest bets on AI power demand.
A bitcoin miner is a company that runs specialized computers to validate transactions on the Bitcoin network in exchange for newly issued coins, a business that depends on cheap, abundant electricity. That same appetite for power is what makes miners attractive landlords for AI companies racing to secure data center capacity.
- Anthropic signed a 20-year lease worth roughly $19 billion in contracted revenue at TeraWulf’s Kentucky campus.
- The deal covers about 401 MW of capacity, with first power in late 2027 and full capacity by early 2028.
- Anthropic’s payments are backed by investment-grade credit, reducing counterparty risk over the lease term.
- TeraWulf shares jumped as much as 17%; the contract exceeds the company’s entire market value.
Published: 2026-07-07 16:08 UTC
What the deal covers
The campus sits on a 790-acre site in Hawesville, a river town on the Ohio River, that once housed an aluminum smelter. That industrial past matters: smelters draw enormous amounts of electricity, so the location already has heavy power transmission and fiber-optic infrastructure in place. TeraWulf says the existing grid connection will speed construction of the facility Anthropic will occupy, Data Center Dynamics reported.
Anthropic will take about 401 megawatts of critical IT load, with initial capacity arriving in the second half of 2027 and the remainder by early 2028. TeraWulf said Anthropic’s payments are expected to be backed by investment-grade credit, a detail that gives investors confidence the revenue will materialize across the two-decade term rather than depending on a startup’s cash flow.
Why a bitcoin miner is leasing to an AI lab
Miners spent years assembling something AI companies now need badly: sites with signed power contracts, grid interconnections, and land ready for high-density computing. Building that from scratch can take years of permitting. Leasing it from a miner that already secured the megawatts is faster.
TeraWulf has leaned into that pivot. The Anthropic lease follows earlier hosting agreements with other AI infrastructure customers, and chief executive Paul Prager described the contract as the “tip of the iceberg” for the company’s AI ambitions, CNBC reported. The economics explain the enthusiasm. Bitcoin mining revenue swings with the token’s price and the network’s difficulty, while a two-decade lease to a credit-backed tenant delivers predictable cash flow that mining rarely offers.
What it means for the market
The reaction reflects a broader repricing of crypto mining companies as AI hosts. Firms including Core Scientific, IREN, and Cipher Mining have signed or explored similar arrangements as demand for AI compute outpaces available power. The same institutional appetite that recently had OpenAI floating a government stake is now reshaping how power-hungry infrastructure gets financed. For TeraWulf, a $19 billion backlog against a $12 billion market capitalization reframes the stock around contracted infrastructure revenue rather than the volatile flows that drive mining margins.
The company also moved to free up capital. Alongside the Anthropic news, TeraWulf agreed to sell its 50.1% stake in the Abernathy Joint Venture, a 168 MW campus under development in Texas, to an investor group led by partner Fluidstack for roughly $530 million. TeraWulf said the sale monetizes about $450 million of invested capital that it can redeploy into wholly owned AI infrastructure.
What comes next
Construction timelines now become the story. First power in late 2027 leaves a long runway during which TeraWulf must execute on a build far larger than its historical footprint. Investors will watch whether the company signs additional tenants at the campus and how it funds the buildout. If demand for AI power holds, the Anthropic lease may prove to be the template other miners follow rather than an outlier.
Frequently asked questions
How much is the TeraWulf-Anthropic deal worth?
The 20-year lease is expected to generate about $19 billion in contracted revenue over its initial term. That figure exceeds TeraWulf’s market value of roughly $12 billion at the time of the announcement.
Where is the data center located?
The facility is TeraWulf’s Justified Data campus in Hawesville, Kentucky, a 790-acre site on a former aluminum smelter that already has power and fiber infrastructure. Anthropic will use about 401 megawatts of capacity there.
When will the capacity come online?
TeraWulf expects initial power in the second half of 2027, with the full 401 megawatts available by early 2028. Anthropic’s lease payments are expected to be backed by investment-grade credit.
