The race to secure electrical capacity for artificial intelligence continues to accelerate in the United States. Riot Platforms has announced a 20-year contract to provide 191 MW of data center capacity to one of the world’s leading AI laboratories at their Rockdale campus in Texas. Although Riot has not publicly identified the client, Bloomberg reports that it is Anthropic.
The deal is initially valued at $9.1 billion and marks a significant step in Riot Platforms’ transformation, historically known as one of the largest Bitcoin mining companies, into the data center business for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing (HPC).
Key Points in 30 Seconds
- Riot Platforms has signed a 20-year contract for 191 MW in Rockdale, Texas.
- The client has not been officially disclosed by Riot, but Bloomberg points to Anthropic.
- The initial contract is valued at $9.1 billion.
- There are two potential additional extensions of five years each.
- If both extensions are exercised, the potential total value could reach approximately $16.5 billion.
- The first 96 MW should be operational by December 2027.
- The full 191 MW are expected to be fully deployed by June 2028.
- Morgan Stanley will initially provide financing of $573 million.
- Riot already has data center capacity agreements with AMD.
- The company is gradually transitioning assets linked to Bitcoin mining to capitalize on the massive growth of AI infrastructure.
$9.1 Billion for 20 Years of Capacity
The size of the deal demonstrates how critical energy infrastructure has become as a major bottleneck for AI expansion.
Riot Platforms will provide 191 MW at its Rockdale campus through an initial 20-year contract.
According to the company, the agreement also includes two five-year extension options. If both are exercised, the commercial relationship could extend over 30 years, with a potential contractual value of approximately $16.5 billion.
Deployment will be progressive.
Riot plans to have the first 96 MW operational by December 2027, with the full 191 MW capacity scheduled for June 2028.
To fund the initial phases, the company has announced a provisional financing line of $573 million provided by Morgan Stanley, while the final credit support structure is finalized.
Bloomberg Identifies Anthropic as the Client
Riot has not officially disclosed the identity of the AI lab.
In their statement, they describe it only as one of the world’s leading „frontier AI labs“.
Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the deal, identifies the client as Anthropic, developer of the Claude model family.
According to published information, Riot declined to comment on the client’s identity, and Anthropic did not respond to Bloomberg’s request for comment.
Therefore, while all signs point to Anthropic, it’s important to distinguish between the contract, confirmed by Riot, and the client’s identity, attributed by Bloomberg.
AI’s Growing Electricity Needs
The 191 MW helps illustrate the scale of infrastructure now required to train and run next-generation AI models.
It’s no longer just about acquiring GPUs.
Large laboratories need to simultaneously secure accelerators, servers, ultra-high-speed networks, cooling systems, and especially large amounts of electricity available over years.
A two-decade contract also indicates that companies are planning their infrastructure with time horizons similar to traditional industrial sectors.
Energy is thus becoming one of the industry’s strategic resources in AI.
From Bitcoin Mining to Hosting AI Infrastructure
The deal also reflects another growing phenomenon in the U.S.: the conversion of large cryptocurrency mining infrastructures into data centers for AI and HPC.
Major Bitcoin miners have a significant advantage that’s hard to quickly replicate.
Over the years, they have acquired land, negotiated electrical connections of hundreds of megawatts, and built facilities ready to house large amounts of computing equipment.
The advent of AI has changed the potential value of these assets.
A high-capacity electrical connection that previously powered thousands of ASIC units can now form the basis for infrastructure tailored to GPU clusters and AI accelerators.
Riot has been preparing this transition for some time.
Formerly Riot Blockchain, the company began more actively exploring expansion into AI and HPC data centers during 2024.
Riot Controls 1.7 GW of Power in Texas
Riot’s energy scale explains why the company is attractive to major tech players.
Riot owns and manages over 1,100 acres of land and approximately 1.7 GW of electrical capacity across its two large facilities in Texas.
It also has two operational centers in Kentucky, acquired through the Block Mining purchase in July 2024.
Currently, these centers have around 60 MW, but their potential capacity could exceed 300 MW once fully developed.
In an industry where obtaining new grid connections can take years, having this infrastructure in place provides a substantial competitive edge.
AMD’s Prior Presence at Rockdale
Anthropic wouldn’t be the first major tech client at Rockdale.
In early 2026, Riot signed an agreement with AMD to initially deploy 25 MW of critical IT load.
Deployment started with 5 MW in January and gradually expanded. Later, additional capacity for AMD was announced.
The agreement even considers growing the campus to 200 MW of critical IT load.
Riot reports that in just over six months, it has secured contracts totaling 241 MW, amounting to approximately $9.8 billion in long-term contracted revenue.
This signifies a shift from merely exploring diversification into AI toward making it a strategic pillar.
Data Center Business Now Visible in Financial Results
The transformation also appears in Riot’s financial statements.
Riot Platforms reported revenues of $174.2 million in Q2 2026, a 14% increase year-over-year.
Of that, $23.2 million came from the data center segment.
This figure consisted of $4.9 million from operational leases and another $18.3 million from facility customization services for clients.
Bitcoin mining remains significant, with Riot producing 1,587 BTC in the quarter, a 161% increase YoY.
However, the strategic importance of data centers is quickly growing.
Bitcoin Miners Have What AI Companies Need
Though it may seem unexpected, the relationship between the industries is logical.
Bitcoin miners primarily require abundant electricity, land, connectivity, and infrastructure able to support massive hardware operations continuously.
AI data centers demand almost the same foundational resources, but with much higher requirements for cooling, redundancy, networking, density, availability, and facility design.
Existing infrastructure cannot simply be converted by swapping ASICs for GPUs.
Conversion entails substantial investments.
But the ability to access hundreds of megawatts of electricity is much more challenging to build from scratch — and that’s where large miners have an advantage.
191 MW: The New Scale of the AI Race
The potential agreement between Anthropic and Riot is significant not only for its $9.1 billion valuation.
It also demonstrates how industry scale is evolving.
Major model developers no longer just negotiate GPU or cloud capacity; they secure entire infrastructure and energy blocks through long-term contracts spanning decades.
Meanwhile, companies from sectors seemingly distant from AI are discovering that their energy assets have remarkable value in the new data center economy.
Riot Platforms exemplifies this trend.
A company originally built around Bitcoin mining could increasingly dedicate part of its infrastructure to power some of the world’s most advanced AI models.
And if Bloomberg is correct about the client’s identity, Claude will need more than GPUs to grow: Anthropic is already securing the energy and data centers it will rely on for decades to come.
via: datacenterdynamics
