Riot Signs $28 Billion AI Deal With Anthropic
Riot is turning its Corsicana site into AI infrastructure, with Anthropic as the tenant and financing that does not start until 2027. The project is set to deliver 910 MW in Texas.
Key Takeaways
- Riot Platforms signed a $28 billion deal with Anthropic for a major AI project on the Corsicana campus in Texas.
- The project includes 910 megawatts and is set to be delivered in phases through July 2028, with an expected average annual rent of about $1.8 billion.
- Riot wants to finance most of the construction with loans and already sold 20,264 BTC in the first nine months of 2026 to pay for the shift to AI.
Riot Platforms has signed a $28 billion (€24.9 billion) deal with Anthropic for a major AI project in Texas. The Bitcoin miner, which is increasingly turning its sites into AI campuses, could eventually pay 12% interest on billions in construction costs through the lease structure in the contract.
Corsicana Becomes an AI Campus
The deal covers 910 megawatts at Riot’s Corsicana campus, with capacity set to come online in phases through July 2028. Riot provides the land and electrical infrastructure, while Anthropic installs and operates the computer equipment. Riot expects average annual rent to come out to about $1.8 billion (€1.6 billion) over the first 15-year term, once everything is up and running.
But the total cost is much higher than the rent alone would suggest. In Wednesday’s presentation, the company said the project will cost about $5.5 billion (€4.9 billion). Of that, about $1.8 billion (€1.6 billion) is for Riot’s own land and power work, while up to $3.6 billion (€3.2 billion) goes toward fees for Anthropic’s data center facilities. Those fees depend on actual eligible costs and are paid after each phase is completed and starts generating rent.
Financing Shifts to 2027
Riot expects to finance most of the construction with loans. In the example calculation, the company assumes lenders will cover 80% to 90% of project costs, which would leave Riot to put in about $500 million (€444 million) to $1.1 billion (€1 billion) in cash itself. The financing process is set to begin in 2027.
According to the quarterly filing, Anthropic can recover the module costs by deducting them from future rent, plus 12% annual interest. CoinDesk asked Riot how much rent would remain after that deduction, whether the fee can be repaid earlier, and what interest rate the company is targeting for the project debt.
More Miners Are Turning to AI
The move fits into a broader shift among bitcoin miners that are repurposing their power sites for AI infrastructure. For companies like Riot, that can be attractive because revenue is less tied to the swings of the crypto market than bitcoin mining alone. At the same time, competition for data center capacity is growing as big tech companies and AI players try to lock up more space.
Riot has already sold a lot of Bitcoin to pay for that shift. In the first nine months of 2026, the company sold 20,264 BTC for about $1.5 billion (€1.3 billion), mainly to fund data center development and pay off a $200 million (€178 million) loan from Coinbase. At the end of September, Riot still held 2,418 BTC, and the company also expects to keep selling newly mined coins for the most part. The first capacity in Corsicana is expected to be ready to start generating rent in June 2027.