Riot Platforms signs a $9.1 billion mega deal with Anthropic: mining gives way to AI
American miner Riot Platforms has made a strategic pivot, signing a 20-year contract to lease computing capacity to one of the leading laboratories in the field of artificial intelligence. The company in question is Anthropic, whose name was previously undisclosed but has now been confirmed in official filings.
The agreement involves providing 191 MW of capacity at Riot's Texas campus in Rockdale. The contract term runs until June 2048, with a base value estimated at $9.1 billion. The document also includes two five-year extension options, which, if fully exercised, could increase total revenue to $16.1 billion.
The first 96 MW is planned to be commissioned by December 2027, with the full capacity coming online by June 2028. Initial construction investments will amount to $573 million, part of which will be financed by Morgan Stanley.
Quarterly Financial Results
Alongside the deal announcement, Riot released its second-quarter results. The company's revenue grew by 14%, reaching $174.2 million, distributed across three key segments:
- data centers — $23.2 million;
- bitcoin mining — $113.7 million;
- engineering — $37.3 million.
However, the net loss amounted to $237.2 million, compared to a profit of $219.5 million a year earlier. Despite this, the company mined 1,587 BTC during the quarter and ended the period with over $1.2 billion in liquid assets, including 11,380 BTC and $548.9 million in cash.
Riot CEO Jason Les noted that over the past seven months, the company has signed capacity lease contracts totaling 241 MW, equivalent to approximately $9.8 billion in long-term revenue from two major players in the AI sector.
The market reaction was mixed: on August 10, Riot shares on Nasdaq fell by 5.4%, but the very next day they surged by more than 23%, approaching the $24 mark.
Diversification Vector
This deal follows the January agreement with AMD and marks Riot's definitive transition from pure bitcoin mining to a hybrid model. Core Scientific, IREN, Applied Digital, TeraWulf, and Hut 8 have already chosen a similar path. Anthropic, for its part, also signed a $10 billion agreement with Volta Infra Holdings in August, indicating active scaling of AI infrastructure.
My analysis: This deal is not just an attempt to capitalize on the AI hype but a forced evolution. Miners have realized that their main asset is not ASIC chips but access to cheap energy and infrastructure. By signing a contract with Anthropic, Riot is effectively transforming into a technological rentier. The only question is whether the company can recoup its $573 million investment before bitcoin volatility and regulation make their mark. But if the trend toward AI data centers persists, such contracts will become a goldmine for miners.