Riot Platforms stock jumps after $9.1B Anthropic AI deal revealed

Riot Platforms RIOT shares surged about 14% in premarket trading on Tuesday after a Bloomberg report identified Anthropic as the "leading frontier AI" company behind the Bitcoin miner's newly announced $9.1 billion (approx. ₦12.6 trillion) infrastructure agreement.

Riot had disclosed on Monday that it secured a 20-year contract to provide 191 megawatts of computing capacity from its Rockdale, Texas campus, enough to power roughly 143,000 homes at any given time.

Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Anthropic is the customer behind the deal.

The agreement runs through June 2048 and is expected to generate about $9.1 billion (approx. ₦12.6 trillion) in revenue.

It also includes two optional five-year extensions, potentially lifting the total value of the contract to as much as $16.1 billion (approx. ₦22.3 trillion).

AI pivot gathers pace

The Anthropic agreement marks another step in Riot's transformation from a cryptocurrency miner into an AI infrastructure provider.

Formerly known as Bioptix, a maker of diagnostic equipment for the biotechnology industry, Riot shifted its focus to Bitcoin mining years ago.

Now, like several crypto miners facing changing market dynamics, it is expanding into cloud computing and AI infrastructure.

The company has also signed a separate agreement with Advanced Micro Devices to build AI computing infrastructure.

Together, the Anthropic and AMD contracts cover 241 MW of contracted IT capacity at Rockdale.

Riot estimates the two agreements will generate about $520 million (approx. ₦720.5 billion) in average annual revenue and between $416 million (approx. ₦576.4 billion) and $462 million (approx. ₦640.2 billion) in annual net operating income.

Riot expects to deliver the first 96 MW of capacity to Anthropic in December 2027, with the remaining capacity scheduled for June 2028.

To support the buildout, the company expects development costs of between $2.1 billion (approx. ₦2.9 trillion) and $2.3 billion (approx. ₦3.2 trillion), or roughly $11 million (approx. ₦15.2 billion) to $12 million (approx. ₦16.6 billion) per IT MW.

Bitcoin mining still matters, but AI is becoming central

Bitcoin mining remains Riot's largest business, but AI infrastructure is becoming an increasingly important contributor to its long-term growth strategy.

Second-quarter revenue rose 14% year over year to $174 million (approx. ₦241.1 billion), beating analyst expectations of $152.1 million (approx. ₦210.7 billion).

Bitcoin mining generated $113.7 million (approx. ₦157.5 billion) in revenue during the quarter, while Riot's data center business contributed $23.2 million (approx. ₦32.1 billion).

Its engineering segment added another $37.3 million (approx. ₦51.7 billion).

The company mined 1,587 Bitcoin during the quarter, up from 1,426 a year earlier, although its average mining cost increased to $49,912 per Bitcoin.

Riot ended June with $548.9 million in cash and holdings of 11,380 Bitcoin.

Anthropic ramps up AI infrastructure partnerships

Anthropic has signed a series of infrastructure agreements in recent months to secure the computing power needed to support surging demand for its AI models.

The company recently struck a $10 billion (approx. ₦13.9 trillion) deal with infrastructure startup Volta Infra Holdings and, in May, agreed to purchase nearly $45 billion (approx. ₦62.4 trillion) worth of computing capacity from Elon Musk's xAI.

Last year, another bitcoin miner, Hut 8, announced a major artificial intelligence infrastructure partnership with Anthropic and cloud compute provider Fluidstack.

Under the agreement, Hut 8 will develop and deliver at least 245 megawatts of AI data centre infrastructure for Anthropic, with capacity potentially rising to as much as 2,295 megawatts across multiple phases.

The initial contract is valued at around $7 billion (approx. ₦9.7 trillion), according to the company, with the overall value climbing to as much as $17.7 billion (approx. ₦24.5 trillion) if all renewal options are exercised over the 15-year lease term.