TLDR
- Riot Platforms (RIOT) stock rose about 14% to $15.49 on Wednesday, after an 18% jump Tuesday.
- Riot signed a 15-year, $28 billion AI lease for 910 megawatts in Corsicana, Texas.
- It sold 10,599 BTC in Q3 and mined only 1,637, leaving 2,418 BTC on hand.
- Q3 revenue rose 1% to $181.4 million, while net income fell to $4.03 million.
- Hut 8 (HUT) stock fell as much as 22% after missing revenue estimates.
Riot Platforms (RIOT) stock traded at $15.49 on Wednesday, up about 14%. That came one day after an 18.41% rally.
The spark was a $28 billion AI data center lease, the biggest in Riot’s history. The 15-year deal covers 910 megawatts in Corsicana, Texas.
The rent works out to roughly $1.8 billion a year. The tenant, named as Anthropic in Riot’s quarterly filing, will own and run the computing gear.
Riot only supplies the land and power. The tenant also covers operating expenses.
Capital costs are put at $5.5 billion. Riot plans to fund most of it with debt backed by the lease payments, but that financing is not yet secured.
Riot Swaps Its Bitcoin Stack for Data Center Cash
Riot sold 10,599 BTC in the third quarter and mined just 1,637. Holdings fell from 11,380 BTC in June to 2,418 BTC in September.
Since January, the company has sold 20,264 coins worth about $1.5 billion. Most of that money went into data center builds.
Riot ended September with $748.2 million in cash. Its remaining Bitcoin was worth another $202 million.
Third-quarter revenue rose 1% to $181.4 million. Mining revenue fell nearly 28% to $116 million.
Data center operations added $18.4 million, and engineering added $47 million. Net income dropped to $4.03 million from $104.5 million a year earlier.
Riot did trim its average mining cost to $39,265 per coin, from $46,324. CEO Jason Les said nearly all expected cash flow will come from long-term leases once the deals are fully deployed.
Les added that Bitcoin mining at Corsicana could begin winding down in summer 2027.
Delivery Dates and a Rough Day for Hut 8
Riot targets 400 megawatts in September 2027 and 200 more in January 2028. The last 310 megawatts are set for July 2028.
Rent begins within 60 days of each delivery. Riot does not expect to issue equity for the projects.
With this lease, Riot has 1,151 megawatts leased and about $38 billion in contracted revenue. Those are expected payments, not cash already received.
Hut 8 (HUT) went the other way on Wednesday, falling more than 22% at one point. Third-quarter revenue dropped 15% to $71.1 million, below the $75.8 million analysts expected.
CFO Sean Glennan pointed to asset sales and lower revenue per Bitcoin mined. Cash administrative expenses also rose.
Hut 8 has $7.5 billion in project bonds to fully fund two AI data center projects. Neither is producing lease revenue yet.
