Riot Platforms Signs $9.1 Billion AI Data Center Lease in Texas

Riot Platforms has signed a 20-year lease worth an estimated $9.1 billion, and up to $16.1 billion if two five-year extensions are exercised, to provide 191 megawatts of critical IT infrastructure to an unnamed frontier AI lab at its Rockdale, Texas campus. Riot said the deal marks "a defining moment" in its shift from bitcoin mining toward large-scale data center development.

Under the agreement, 96 megawatts of capacity is expected to be delivered by December 2027, with the full 191 megawatts online by June 2028. Riot projects the lease could generate $7.3 billion to $8.2 billion in cumulative net operating income over its base term, and the company has lined up a $573 million interim financing facility from Morgan Stanley while it finalizes an investment-grade credit backstop.

Combined with its existing lease with AMD, Riot now has 241 megawatts of contracted data center capacity, underscoring how bitcoin miners are repositioning their power infrastructure to capture demand from AI computing.