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Riot Lands $9.1 Billion 20-Year AI Deal With Anthropic

The Anthropic deal keeps pushing Riot’s Texas campus deeper into AI infrastructure. It also reflects a wider shift among miners that are putting their power and data center capacity to work beyond Bitcoin.

By Zenz van der Wielen
• 2 min read
Riot Lands $9.1 Billion 20-Year AI Deal With Anthropic

Key Takeaways

  • Riot Platforms signed a 20-year AI deal worth $9.1 billion with Anthropic for 191 megawatts in Rockdale, Texas.
  • That brings the contracted AI capacity at the Rockdale campus to 241 megawatts, with delivery starting in December 2027.
  • Riot expects more revenue from data centers, while bitcoin mining revenue fell and its bitcoin holdings dropped by 4,300 BTC.

Riot Platforms rose more than 20% in premarket trading on Tuesday after the bitcoin mining company announced a $9.1 billion (€7.9 billion) deal with a major frontier AI lab. The move underscores how miners are increasingly turning their power and data center infrastructure toward AI instead of relying only on Bitcoin mining.

Rockdale Becomes an AI Hub

According to Bloomberg, the agreement with Anthropic covers 191 megawatts of computing capacity at Riot’s campus in Rockdale, Texas. It adds to a site that is already evolving from a mining operation into a broader infrastructure base for AI customers.

Riot also has a lease in place with chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices, bringing total contracted AI capacity at Rockdale to 241 megawatts. The first 25 megawatts went live in the second quarter, while another 25 megawatts is currently under construction. Deployment across Riot’s sites is set to begin in December 2027, with full delivery expected by June 2028.

More Revenue, Less Bitcoin

The deal fits a wider pattern in which crypto miners are reworking their land, grid access, and cooling systems for high-performance computing. For AI firms, that can be a quicker path than building new facilities from the ground up because much of the infrastructure is already there.

Riot also said the contract’s base term could produce between $7.3 billion (€6.3 billion) and $8.2 billion (€7.1 billion) in cumulative net operating profit. Two five-year extension options could push total contract revenue to $16.1 billion (€13.9 billion). The company also reported that second-quarter revenue increased 14% to $174.2 million (€151 million), including $23.2 million (€20.1 million) from data centers, while bitcoin mining revenue slipped to $113.7 million (€98.4 million) on lower bit and rising network competition.

Why This Matters

For European crypto readers, the takeaway is that mining companies are becoming less dependent on Bitcoin production alone. Investors are now looking beyond hash rate and treasury size to factors like power capacity, location, and AI-related contracts. That could shape how similar miners are valued as they try to make more money from the infrastructure they already have.

Riot is helping fund its data center buildout by selling bitcoin each month and reducing its treasury. According to BitcoinTreasuries.net, its holdings fell from 15,680 Bitcoin to 11,380 at the end of the quarter, a decline of 4,300 BTC over three months.

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