Riot Platforms signs $28B, 910 MW Texas lease with a frontier AI lab
Riot Platforms said in its third-quarter 2026 results, published November 4, that it signed a 15-year triple-net powered land lease covering its entire Corsicana campus in Texas. The release calls the tenant only a leading frontier AI lab, but FourWeekMBA reports that a 10-Q filed the same day names Anthropic PBC. Riot provides land, powered pads and infrastructure, while the tenant installs and runs the computing equipment.
The contract is worth about $28 billion over the initial term, with average annual rent near $1.8 billion including escalators, and roughly $54 billion if both five-year extension options are exercised. Rent is payable on all 910 MW whether or not the capacity is used. Delivery comes in three phases: 400 MW with a full-phase target of September 11, 2027, 200 MW by January 28, 2028, and 310 MW by July 30, 2028. Rent on each phase starts no later than 60 days after its power pad is delivered.
Bitcoin sales are funding the buildout. Riot sold 10,599 BTC in the third quarter while mining 1,637, which cut its holdings from 11,380 BTC at June 30 to 2,418 BTC at September 30. Over the first nine months it sold 20,264 BTC for about $1.5 billion, mostly for data center work, according to Bitcoin Magazine. The company said it does not currently expect to issue equity for these projects.
Why it matters
For founders, the deal puts a price on powered capacity. Tikr reports that the Corsicana structure requires about $6 million of capital per IT megawatt, compared with $11 million to $12 million for Riot's Rockdale build. Labs that secure sites, grid access and tenants willing to bring their own hardware can lock in multi-year capacity. Smaller labs and cloud providers will now bid against that benchmark, so access to power and cheap capital is becoming a competitive advantage.
For investors and operators, the lease turns a former mining site into long-term contracted rent, which gives lenders and equity holders more cash flow visibility. The funding path is also a signal: bitcoin held on the balance sheet is being spent as construction capital. Investors evaluating miners with powered land should look at contracted rent per megawatt, the tenant's credit and how much of the revenue depends on one customer.
Key points
- 1Riot's 15-year powered land lease covers all 910 MW at Corsicana and became binding on November 4, 2026.
- 2Contract value is about $28 billion, averaging $1.8 billion a year in rent, or $54 billion with both extensions.
- 3Rent is owed on the full 910 MW regardless of how much of that capacity the tenant actually uses.
- 4Delivery runs in three phases, with the full 910 MW targeted by July 2028.
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