Anthropic Riot Platforms $9.1B AI Deal

Anthropic, an AI safety and research company, has agreed to a 20-year, $9.1 billion deal with Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms for 191 megawatts of computing capacity at Riot's Rockdale, United States — Texas data center campus. The agreement, disclosed by Riot on August 10, runs through June 2048 and includes two five-year extension options that could bring total revenue to $16.1 billion. Riot's shares surged about 25% in late trading following the announcement. The deal is part of Anthropic's broader strategy to secure computing capacity to meet surging demand for its AI models, following other major agreements with Volta Infra Holdings, Xai, and AMD. For Riot, the contract marks a significant pivot from Bitcoin mining toward AI data center infrastructure, joining a trend among crypto miners repurposing their facilities for AI workloads. The deal underscores the growing demand for AI compute and the strategic value of existing power and data center infrastructure.