Anthropic has agreed to pay Riot Platforms $9.1 billion over 20 years for computing capacity at Riot's Rockdale, Texas campus, according to Bloomberg sources. The deal, which hasn't been confirmed by either company, sent Riot's stock up 24% in after-hours trading, closing at $19.40 and rising to $24.13 after hours.
The contract
Riot disclosed a 20-year contract to supply 191 megawatts of capacity to an unnamed 'leading frontier AI' company. Neither Riot nor Anthropic has confirmed the identity publicly, but Bloomberg's sources point to Anthropic. The deal is worth $9.1 billion over two decades.
Why miners are pivoting
Public miners including MARA, CleanSpark, Cango, Core Scientific, and Bitdeer sold more than 32,000 BTC combined in Q1 and redirected capital to AI infrastructure contracts worth an estimated $70 billion. Mining Bitcoin cost roughly $80,000 per unit for much of the year, while AI hosting contracts offered several times that return. The shift to AI hosting caused Bitcoin's hash rate to drop about 4%, breaking a five-year growth streak, before difficulty adjustments restored profitability.
Riot's numbers
Riot's Q2 revenue rose 14% year-over-year to $174 million, with a GAAP net loss of $237 million ($0.68 per diluted share). The miner produced 1,587 BTC in the quarter at a cost of $49,912 per BTC, bringing its holdings to 11,380 BTC valued at about $728 million. Riot sold 3,778 BTC in Q1 2026 worth about $289.5 million, and in early August deposited 381 BTC to an exchange, likely for sale.
The big question is whether Anthropic will confirm the deal. Riot's market cap stood at roughly $7.3 billion heading into the after-hours move, with volume of 17.5 million shares against a daily average near 16.8 million. The stock's jump suggests investors see the AI pivot as a way to offset the pain of falling Bitcoin mining margins. Neither company has publicly commented on the Bloomberg report. Riot's next earnings call could shed light on the contract, but for now the identity of the 'leading frontier AI' company remains officially unconfirmed.
