Riot's $9.1 billion AI lease changes the mix before the power is delivered
The bitcoin miner reported $174.2 million in quarterly revenue as data-center leases expanded to 241 MW, but most of the new contract value depends on construction through 2028.
Riot Platforms has signed a 20-year lease with a frontier artificial-intelligence company for 191 megawatts at its Rockdale, Texas site, a contract the miner values at about $9.1 billion over the initial term. The company's Aug. 10 results release says the agreement lifts Riot's total contracted data-center capacity to 241 MW and adds a potential $16.1 billion if two five-year extensions are exercised.
The size of the contract changes the way investors will read Riot's business, but it is not current data-center revenue. Riot reported $174.2 million of second-quarter revenue, including $23.2 million from data centers. The company says the new lease is expected to deliver its first 96 MW in December 2027 and the full 191 MW in June 2028, subject to the buildout and contractual conditions.
The quarter still belongs to mining
Riot mined 1,587 bitcoin in the quarter, up from 1,426 a year earlier, while the reported cost to mine one bitcoin rose to $49,912 from $48,992. Bitcoin-mining revenue was $113.7 million, down from $140.9 million. The result shows why the data-center strategy matters: the business is still exposed to bitcoin prices, network conditions and energy costs while the larger lease economics remain in the future.
The data-center line itself included $4.9 million of lease revenue and $18.3 million from fit-out work. Engineering revenue was $37.3 million, up from $10.6 million. Riot ended the quarter with more than $1.2 billion of liquid assets, including 11,380 bitcoin and $548.9 million in cash. CEO Jason Les described the two AI contracts as creating roughly $9.8 billion of long-term contracted revenue, a company statement rather than an independently verified forecast.
Construction is the next proof point
Riot says AMD's initial 25 MW deployment is fully online and can expand to 50 MW, with later phases targeted for November 2026 and May 2027. The larger Rockdale lease requires a separate delivery path: the first 96 MW is scheduled for December 2027, followed by the remainder six months later. Morgan Stanley has provided $573 million of interim financing to support the development.
The investment case now depends on execution between the contract and the cash flow. Riot has to deliver power, cooling and fit-out work on schedule, keep the facilities reliable and convert contracted capacity into recognized lease revenue. The next useful evidence is not another headline contract; it is megawatts delivered, recurring data-center revenue and the financing cost of getting there.
