Riot Platforms has signed a 20-year agreement to provide 191 MW of critical IT capacity from its Rockdale, Texas campus to a leading frontier AI company. The contract is expected to generate approximately $9.1 billion in revenue and highlights how major Bitcoin miners are increasingly using their power infrastructure for AI and high-performance computing alongside mining operations.
Riot Platforms has announced one of the largest infrastructure agreements involving a major Bitcoin mining company, signing a long-term data center contract covering 191 megawatts of critical IT capacity at its Rockdale facility in Texas.
The agreement has an initial term of 20 years, running through June 2048, and Riot expects it to generate approximately $9.1 billion in contracted revenue. Two additional five-year extension options could increase the potential total contract value to approximately $16.1 billion.
Riot officially described the customer as a “leading frontier AI lab.” Barron’s subsequently reported, citing a source familiar with the transaction, that the customer is Anthropic, the artificial intelligence company behind Claude.
From Bitcoin Mining to Digital Infrastructure
Riot remains a major Bitcoin mining operator, but the new agreement demonstrates how valuable the infrastructure originally developed for cryptocurrency mining has become to the rapidly expanding artificial intelligence industry.
Large-scale Bitcoin mining facilities typically already possess several resources that AI data centers urgently need: substantial electrical capacity, high-voltage grid connections, industrial land, cooling infrastructure and experience operating energy-intensive computing equipment.
Riot currently describes Bitcoin mining, data centers and engineering as three separate business areas. The company reports approximately 44.4 EH/s of Bitcoin mining hash-rate capacity while simultaneously developing its large-scale data center operations.
191 MW of AI Capacity at Rockdale
The new project will be developed at Riot’s Rockdale campus in Texas. According to the company, the first 96 MW of critical IT capacity is expected to be delivered in December 2027, with the full 191 MW deployment scheduled for completion by June 2028.
The Rockdale site already contains approximately 700 MW of developed power capacity, making it particularly attractive for large AI and high-performance computing deployments where access to electricity has become one of the industry's most important constraints.
Riot Already Has a Major AMD Agreement
The latest contract follows Riot’s earlier data center agreement with AMD. Riot announced its first Rockdale data center lease with AMD in January 2026, initially covering 25 MW with the potential for substantial expansion.
Riot says that, combining the AMD agreement with the newly announced AI contract, the company has now contracted approximately 241 MW of critical IT capacity.
The company also reported second-quarter 2026 revenue of $174.2 million, up approximately 14% year over year, including $23.2 million generated by its data center segment.
What Does This Mean for Bitcoin Mining?
The development does not necessarily mean that large mining companies are abandoning Bitcoin.
Instead, it demonstrates an important change in how mining infrastructure is valued.
For years, the main economic purpose of a mining facility was to convert electricity into Bitcoin through specialized ASIC hardware. But the explosive growth of AI has created another potential use for locations that already have access to hundreds of megawatts of electricity.
Bitcoin mining therefore increasingly competes with AI and high-performance computing for the same fundamental resource: large-scale, reliable and economically viable power capacity.
Riot's strategy illustrates how mining companies can potentially operate multiple businesses from the same underlying energy infrastructure.
A Broader Industry Trend
Riot is not alone. Other companies with roots in Bitcoin mining are also expanding into AI and high-performance computing infrastructure.
CleanSpark, for example, announced a 20-year data center lease in 2026 covering 175 MW of critical IT load while continuing to operate a Bitcoin mining fleet that produced 586 BTC during July.
This trend suggests that electricity access, grid interconnections and suitable data center locations may become increasingly valuable strategic assets across the Bitcoin mining industry.
Outlook
The Riot agreement is another indication that the boundaries between Bitcoin mining, energy infrastructure and AI computing are becoming less distinct.
Mining companies with substantial power portfolios may increasingly choose dynamically between Bitcoin mining, AI infrastructure and other high-performance computing applications depending on economics and long-term contracts.
For Bitcoin miners, this evolution could create additional revenue opportunities. At the same time, competition from AI data centers for large-scale electrical capacity could influence the economics and geographic distribution of Bitcoin mining in the years ahead.
