Riot Platforms Signs $9.1 Billion, 20-Year AI Compute Deal With Anthropic
Riot will lease 191 megawatts of power at its Rockdale, Texas campus to Anthropic in a 20-year deal worth up to $9.1 billion — the bitcoin miner's biggest step yet into AI infrastructure.
BY AISHA BENNETT5 MIN READ
191 megawatts, 20 years, one former bitcoin miner
Riot Platforms disclosed on August 10 that it had signed a 20-year deal to supply 191 megawatts of data center capacity from its Rockdale, Texas campus — enough power for roughly 143,000 homes — to what its SEC filing described only as a "leading frontier AI" company. Bloomberg and CNBC subsequently identified the tenant as Anthropic, the maker of Claude. The base agreement is worth up to $9.1 billion; extension options could push total contract revenue as high as $16.1 billion if Anthropic exercises both. Riot secured $573 million from Morgan Stanley to fund initial construction while it finalizes longer-term financing.
From hashrate to landlord
Riot CEO Jason Les called the lease "a defining moment in our evolution into a leading developer of large-scale data centers." The Anthropic deal follows an earlier 2025 agreement to lease 25 megawatts to AMD, with an option to expand to 200 megawatts, and brings Riot's contracted AI capacity to 241 megawatts alongside its existing Bitcoin mining operations. The company still reported bitcoin production of 1,587 coins for the quarter, but Riot's Q2 2026 results — $174.2 million in revenue, up 14% year over year, against a $237.2 million net loss driven partly by impairment charges — show a business increasingly measured by contracted power and data center margins rather than hashprice alone.
The stock reaction was messier than the headline
RIOT shares initially surged more than 20% on the news before giving up almost the entire gain the same session, and the stock was still trading down for the week as of Friday's close. Seeking Alpha's coverage argues the deal is transformative even so, rating Riot a buy with a $32–$35 price target and noting the company's market cap sits near the value of the Anthropic deal alone. The Motley Fool frames the broader shift more cautiously: rival neocloud operator Nebius plans 800 megawatts to 1 gigawatt of power online by year-end and 5 gigawatts contracted — a scale Riot and other former miners are still racing to match.
WHY IT MATTERS
Riot's deal is the second multibillion-dollar Anthropic hosting agreement with a bitcoin miner this month, after TeraWulf's $33 billion contract. Public miners' scarce, grid-connected power — the hardest input for AI labs to acquire quickly — is becoming worth more as a lease to AI companies than as Bitcoin hashrate, and investors are starting to price several miners accordingly.
What to watch next
1.Whether Riot secures long-term financing to build out the Rockdale campus, beyond the $573 million bridge from Morgan Stanley.
2.Whether other public miners — Riot has already leased capacity to AMD, and TeraWulf to Anthropic — sign comparable AI hosting deals of their own.
3.Whether Riot's Bitcoin mining output keeps shrinking as a share of revenue as its AI hosting business scales.
Frequently asked questions
What did Riot Platforms and Anthropic agree to?
Riot signed a 20-year lease supplying 191 megawatts of power and data center capacity from its Rockdale, Texas campus to Anthropic. The deal is worth up to $9.1 billion over its base term, with extension options that could push total contract revenue to $16.1 billion.
Is Riot Platforms still a bitcoin miner?
Yes, but the company is increasingly valued as an AI infrastructure landlord. Riot still mines bitcoin at other facilities, but its largest campus is shifting a significant share of its power toward leased AI compute rather than hashing.
Why are bitcoin miners pivoting to AI hosting?
Miners already control scarce, grid-connected power and large data center sites — the two hardest things for AI companies to acquire quickly. With mining margins thin, leasing that power to AI labs at higher, more stable margins has become an attractive alternative to pure hashing.
SOURCES & DATA
CNBC — Riot Platforms strikes deal with Anthropic ↗
Bloomberg — Anthropic strikes $9 billion deal with Riot ↗
crypto.news — Riot signs $9.1B AI deal, extension options to $16.1B ↗
The Motley Fool — Why AI is now key to valuing Bitcoin mining stocks ↗
Education, not financial advice. See our editorial process and corrections policy.
TERMS IN THIS STORY
Aisha Bennett
Bitcoin Almanack's editorial byline for mining hardware, home mining, hashrate, efficiency, power economics, heat, and noise.
Sources, standards & corrections
Sources are linked inline. Read our editorial information, AI disclosure and corrections policy, or report an error.
Sources are linked inline. Read our editorial information, AI disclosure and corrections policy, or report an error.