Riot Platforms Signs 910MW Data Center Lease With Unnamed Frontier AI Lab in Texas

Riot Platforms has secured a 910MW IT capacity contract with an unnamed frontier AI lab for its Corsicana data center campus in Navarro County, Texas, marking one of the largest single data center leases signed this year and underscoring the intensifying race among AI developers to lock in massive computing footprints.

The agreement is structured as a triple-net lease running 15 years, with two optional five-year extensions. At base terms, the contract is valued at $28 billion, a figure that would rise to $54 billion should both extension periods be exercised. The lease covers the entirety of Riot's Corsicana campus outside Dallas, with capacity to be delivered in phases: 400MW scheduled for September 2027, an additional 200MW in January 2028, and the final 310MW in July 2028.

The deal follows a lease signed earlier this year with the same unnamed frontier AI lab at Riot's Rockdale, Texas, site, as well as a contract with AMD. Together, the agreements bring Riot's contracted data center capacity to 1.1GW and approximately $38 billion in revenue, which the company expects will generate more than $2 billion in average annual net operating income at full deployment. "Together with our AMD contract and the lease signed with the same Frontier AI Lab at Rockdale earlier this year, Riot has contracted 1.1GW and approximately $38 billion of data center revenue," said Riot CEO Jason Les, adding that the company is "firmly establishing Riot as a leading developer of large-scale digital infrastructure."

Les emphasized that the economics of the lease structure are as significant as its scale. With total capital costs of approximately $6 million per IT megawatt, the Corsicana development will require roughly half the capital of a Tier 3 build while substantially limiting procurement, development, and ongoing operational risk to Riot. That lower capital requirement, combined with the company's balance sheet strength, means Riot does not currently anticipate issuing equity to fund its announced projects. "As these significant contracted cash flows come online, we will allocate our capital with discipline to whichever use creates the most value per share, whether that is our development pipeline or returning capital to shareholders," Les said.

The Corsicana campus currently provides 400MW for Bitcoin mining, capacity that is expected to be transitioned to AI and high-performance computing for the unnamed customer. In May 2026, Riot revealed it was building a new two-story data center on the site totaling 335,430 square feet, with development on the $400 million project set to run from April 2026 to May 2028. The company has previously indicated that additional land acquired at the site could support up to 11 buildings and 672MW, with potential to expand further to 1GW.

The transaction reflects a broader pivot for Riot, formerly known as Riot Blockchain and one of the world's largest Bitcoin miners, which has been shifting toward AI and HPC data center hosting since 2024. Beyond Texas, Riot operates a campus in Rockdale where AMD leases 50MW and Anthropic recently signed on for 191MW, and owns two operational sites in Kentucky totaling 60MW following its July 2024 acquisition of Block Mining, with potential to exceed 300MW at full build-out. The shift comes as AI developers increasingly seek large, pre-permitted power capacity, and as miners with existing grid interconnections reposition themselves as infrastructure providers. Alongside the contract announcement, Riot reported third-quarter revenue of $181.4 million, up from $180.2 million a year prior, with data center revenue of $18.4 million and Bitcoin mining contributing $116 million.