Riot Platforms Pivots to AI in Deal with AMD; Sells 1,080 BTC to Secure Land
Riot Platforms signs a massive power lease with AMD, liquidating $96M in Bitcoin to fund the infrastructure for its new AI tenant.
The Receipt
Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms (RIOT) confirmed a strategic pivot Friday, signing a lease agreement with chip giant AMD to host high-performance computing (HPC) workloads at its Rockdale, Texas facility. The market reacted immediately, sending RIOT shares up over 11% in early trading.
The Deal Structure
The agreement guarantees Riot $311 million in revenue over an initial 10-year term. Riot will deliver 25 megawatts (MW) of power capacity to AMD starting January 2026. If AMD exercises all extension options, potentially expanding capacity to 200 MW, the contract value hits $1 billion.
To facilitate the deal, Riot purchased 200 acres of land at the Rockdale site for $96 million. The funding source is notable: Riot liquidated 1,080 BTC from its balance sheet to close the transaction, effectively swapping idle digital assets for cash-flowing physical infrastructure.
Miner-to-HPC Thesis Validated
This move officially places Riot in competition with peers like Core Scientific and TeraWulf, who have already aggressively courted AI clients. CEO Jason Les described the deal as a validation of Riot’s power assets, which are now being repriced by the market not just for mining hashrate, but for their utility in the energy-starved AI sector.
“At AMD, advancing high-performance computing and AI requires partners that can match our pace and scale,” said Hasmukh Ranjan, AMD’s CIO.
Market Reaction
The pivot offers Riot a hedge against Bitcoin’s halving cycles. While pure-play miners face compressing margins, HPC contracts offer stable, long-term cash flow. RIOT traded near $17.26 (+4.9%) following the announcement, decoupling slightly from broader crypto market volatility.
