Riot Platforms Lands a $9.1 Billion AI Data Center Deal With Anthropic

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Riot Platforms, Inc. (RIOT) jumped as much as 9% in early trading Tuesday after the bitcoin miner-turned-data-center developer signed a $9.1 billion data center deal with a major AI developer, widely reported to be Anthropic. Notably, the agreement marks Riot’s boldest step yet in its pivot from mining crypto to powering the AI boom — even though the stock surrendered most of those early gains as the session wore on.

Key Points

• Riot Platforms (RIOT) signed a data center deal valued at $9.1 billion with a major AI developer, widely reported to be Anthropic.
• The agreement is a 20-year, 191-megawatt data center lease, according to CEO Jason Les.
• Shares surged about 9% early Tuesday, though the gain largely faded to roughly flat by mid-afternoon.
• Riot reported Q2 revenue of $174 million, up 14% year over year, driven by its data center and engineering businesses.
• The deal extends a broader trend of bitcoin miners leasing capacity to AI customers.
• RIOT stock is up roughly 37% year to date.

A Landmark Lease

According to CEO Jason Les, the transaction represents “a landmark 20-year, 191-megawatt data center lease with a leading frontier AI lab.” Moreover, he framed it as a turning point for the company, calling it “a defining moment in our evolution into a leading developer of large-scale data centers.” In other words, Riot Platforms (RIOT) is increasingly positioning itself as an AI infrastructure landlord rather than a pure-play bitcoin miner.

A Volatile Stock Reaction

Investors initially cheered the news, and the stock climbed roughly 9% shortly after the open. As the day progressed, however, those gains steadily eroded, and RIOT drifted back toward flat by mid-afternoon. Even so, the stock has performed strongly over the longer stretch, rising about 37% year to date. Consequently, the muted intraday close looks less like skepticism about the deal and more like traders locking in profits after the initial pop.

Solid Second-Quarter Results

Alongside the announcement, Riot Platforms reported second quarter revenue of $174 million, up 14% year over year. Importantly, the company attributed that growth to its data center and engineering businesses rather than to bitcoin mining — a shift that reinforces the strategic direction behind the Anthropic lease.

Why Miners Are Pivoting to AI

To understand the move, it helps to look at the broader industry backdrop. As the crypto sector works through a prolonged “winter,” demand for computing power has skyrocketed, and bitcoin miners have increasingly leaned into leasing their data center capacity to AI customers. Riot (RIOT) itself set this pivot in motion back in January, when it announced its first major deal with AMD at its Rockdale, Texas campus. Now, with a $9.1 billion Anthropic agreement on the books, the company has dramatically scaled up that strategy.

The Takeaway

Ultimately, the deal underscores just how aggressively the AI build-out is reshaping adjacent industries. Rather than mining bitcoin, Riot Platforms (RIOT) will now supply the power and real estate that frontier AI models require — and if the 20-year lease performs as management hopes, it could transform the company’s revenue profile for years to come. Even though the stock’s early surge faded, the strategic significance of the agreement clearly extends well beyond a single trading session.