Riot Platforms has signed a 20-year agreement to supply 191 megawatts of power from its Rockdale, Texas campus to Anthropic, the AI company behind Claude. The deal, confirmed by Bloomberg, is expected to generate $9.1 billion in revenue over the base term through June 2048, with two five-year extension options that could push the total to $16.1 billion. Riot shares jumped 25% in after-hours trading before giving back nearly all of that move in regular trading.
From biotech to Bitcoin to AI landlord
Riot's path here has been anything but straight. The company started life as Bioptix, a biotech firm, before pivoting to Bitcoin mining. Now it's positioning itself as an AI infrastructure provider. The Rockdale campus, which already hosts a partnership with AMD, is the centerpiece of that shift. The transition hasn't been seamless, but this deal suggests the strategy is gaining traction.
A lease, not a mining bet
The deal is structured like commercial real estate. Riot leases power, land, and data-center shell capacity; Anthropic brings its own hardware. That structure insulates Riot's revenue from Bitcoin price, difficulty, and halving events. It's a different risk profile than the mining business, and the market seems to like it — at least initially. The base term runs through June 2048, and the two five-year extensions could add another $7 billion to the total.
Anthropic's computing shopping spree
This isn't Anthropic's only big-ticket infrastructure deal. The company has a roughly $10 billion agreement with Volta Infra Holdings, and in May it agreed to buy close to $45 billion in computing from xAI. The Riot deal adds another 191 MW to that portfolio, though the first capacity won't go live until late 2027, with full deployment targeted for mid-2028. That's a long runway, but Anthropic is clearly locking in power and compute well ahead of need.
The Texas variable
There's a regulatory wrinkle specific to Texas that could affect the project, according to Compass Point analyst Michael Donovan. He didn't specify what it is, but it's a reminder that even the best-laid power deals can hit state-level friction. For now, the market is treating this as a win, but the real test comes when construction starts. The first capacity isn't expected until late 2027, so the immediate focus will be on Texas regulators and construction timelines.
