Riot Platforms shares advanced in trading following news of a major long-term agreement to deliver computing capacity for artificial intelligence workloads. The company secured a 20-year contract valued at approximately $9.1 billion to provide 191 megawatts of critical IT load from its Rockdale campus in Texas.

Bloomberg reported that the customer is Anthropic, one of the leading frontier AI laboratories, based on information from people familiar with the matter. Riot itself described the counterparty only as a leading frontier AI lab in its disclosure. The capacity will be brought online in phases, with the first 96 megawatts expected to become operational in December 2027 and the remaining portion by June 2028. The initial term runs through June 2048.

Second Major Data Center Commitment at Rockdale

The agreement marks Riot’s second significant data center lease at the Rockdale site. The company previously signed a deal with Advanced Micro Devices covering capacity in the range of 25 to 200 megawatts, with one report specifying 50 megawatts of IT load. Combined, the two contracts give Riot 241 megawatts of contracted IT capacity at the campus and roughly $9.8 billion in contracted revenue.

Riot estimates the Anthropic and AMD agreements together will produce about $520 million in average annual revenue and between $416 million and $462 million in annual net operating income. Development costs for the 191-megawatt Anthropic portion are projected at $2.1 billion to $2.3 billion, or approximately $11 million to $12 million per megawatt of IT capacity.

To fund early construction and long-lead equipment purchases, Riot arranged a $573 million interim loan from Morgan Stanley secured by the tenant while it pursues additional project financing.

Stock Reaction and Financial Position

Shares of Riot Platforms rose about 4.5 percent to 5 percent in regular trading after climbing as much as 19 percent to 21 percent in premarket sessions. The stock has gained roughly 53 percent to 60 percent since the beginning of the year.

In its second-quarter results for 2026, Riot reported revenue of $174.2 million, up 14 percent from a year earlier and above analyst estimates. Data center operations contributed $23.2 million, while Bitcoin mining generated $113.7 million. The company posted a net loss of $237.2 million, driven in part by non-cash items including mark-to-market adjustments on Bitcoin holdings and depreciation.

At quarter-end, Riot held more than $1.2 billion in liquidity, including $548.9 million in cash and 11,380 Bitcoin valued at approximately $666 million.

Broader Shift Toward AI Infrastructure

Riot is among several Bitcoin mining firms converting existing power infrastructure and sites into high-performance computing facilities to meet rising demand for AI training and inference capacity. Power constraints have made long-term agreements with miners an increasingly common path for AI companies seeking reliable large-scale electricity and ready sites.

Anthropic has pursued multiple infrastructure partnerships. Earlier arrangements include a $19 billion, 20-year data center lease with TeraWulf and other capacity commitments totaling billions of dollars. Riot is also advancing plans at its Corsicana campus in Texas, which has one gigawatt of approved utility power and a non-binding letter of intent for the full planned 756 megawatts of critical IT capacity.

Chief Executive Officer Jason Les stated the company remains in advanced commercial and design discussions with the prospective Corsicana tenant and views conversion of that agreement into a signed lease as a priority for 2026. A fully deployed lease at the site could generate more than $1 billion in annual rent, according to the company, though no final contract has been executed.

Analyst firms have maintained constructive ratings on Riot. B. Riley Securities kept a Buy rating with a $28 price target and estimated the Rockdale project could produce $7.3 billion to $8.2 billion in cumulative net operating income over the initial lease term. Other firms have set targets ranging from $30 to $35.