Riot Platforms has leased 191 megawatts of computing capacity at its Rockdale, Texas, bitcoin mining campus to an unnamed artificial intelligence company under a 20-year agreement the miner says will generate roughly $9.1 billion in revenue, according to an exhibit filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Aug. 10. The lease runs through June 2048 and includes two five-year extension options that would lift its total potential value to about $16.1 billion if exercised.
Riot identified the tenant only as "one of the world's leading frontier AI labs." The company expects the contract to average $457 million of revenue a year — four times the $113.7 million its bitcoin mining business produced in the entire second quarter, a figure that fell from $140.9 million a year earlier.
The economics of that mining business explain the trade. Riot disclosed that its cost to mine one bitcoin, excluding depreciation, was $49,912 in the second quarter against a production value of $71,667 per coin. Once miner depreciation is included, the cost rises to $90,631 — 126.5% of what the mined bitcoin was worth. Total revenue of $174.2 million was up 14% year over year, helped by $23.2 million of data center revenue, but Riot still posted a net loss of $237.2 million and adjusted EBITDA of negative $69.7 million.
