Anthropic Secures Massive $9.1B Cloud Deal With Riot

Anthropic PBC has finalized a $9.1 billion agreement with Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms Inc. to lease AI data center capacity, a strategic move by the Claude developer to secure the massive computational power required to meet surging enterprise demand.

Scaling Infrastructure for AI Demands

Riot Platforms confirmed on Monday that it has locked in a 20-year contract to supply 191 megawatts of computing power from its Rockdale, Texas, facility to a “leading frontier AI” firm. Sources familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the client as Anthropic. The power allocation is substantial, capable of supporting roughly 143,000 homes simultaneously.

Following the announcement, Riot’s shares surged 25% to reach $24.40 in late trading.

A Pattern of Aggressive Expansion

This partnership is the latest in a series of high-stakes infrastructure deals orchestrated by Anthropic to address persistent shortages in computing resources. The company recently finalized a $10 billion agreement with infrastructure startup Volta Infra Holdings Ltd. and, in May, committed to nearly $45 billion in computing capacity from Elon Musk’s xAI.

Contract Longevity and Financial Scope

The agreement between Riot and the AI developer is set to run through June 2048, with Riot projecting $9.1 billion in total revenue from the base term. Furthermore, the contract includes two five-year extension options, which could potentially push the total value of the deal to $16.1 billion.

Crypto Miners Pivot to AI

Riot, which previously operated as a biotech diagnostic firm under the name Bioptix before pivoting to Bitcoin mining, exemplifies the growing trend of crypto companies repurposing their infrastructure for the AI sector. The company has also announced a separate collaboration with Advanced Micro Devices Inc. to develop further computing capabilities.

Riot’s strategic shift is already yielding results; the company recently outperformed second-quarter sales expectations, driven in part by the rapid growth of its data center services division.