Anthropic has signed a $9.1 billion, 20-year data center lease with Riot Platforms covering 191 megawatts of capacity at a facility in Rockdale, Texas, according to an announcement August 10, 2026.
The deal locks Anthropic into a fixed contract for power infrastructure as the AI lab scales its compute operations. Riot Platforms, a publicly traded Bitcoin mining and data center company, will provide the underlying infrastructure. The 191-megawatt allocation represents a significant single-customer deployment for Riot, whose total mining operations consumed roughly 570 megawatts as of mid-2026.
Anthropric is one of three major frontier AI labs competing for capital-intensive compute resources to train and serve large language models. OpenAI and Google DeepMind operate their own data centers or secure long-term power agreements; Anthropic's lease with Riot is the company's most public infrastructure commitment to date. The $9.1 billion contract value, spread over two decades, tracks the rising cost of power supply contracts in a market where demand for GPU clusters has outpaced available capacity.
Riot Platforms' stock jumped 25 percent on the news. The company has been expanding beyond Bitcoin mining into data center leasing as AI workloads have become more attractive revenue sources. Riot did not operate the facility itself but serves as the power and infrastructure provider, with Anthropic responsible for equipment and operations.
The Rockdale location, in Central Texas, offers access to abundant natural gas and grid capacity. Texas has become a hub for both Bitcoin mining and AI data center development, with multiple operators building or expanding facilities there to access cheaper power. The long-term contract insulates both parties from near-term price volatility in energy markets.
Anthropric has not disclosed its total compute footprint or near-term expansion plans. The Riot lease covers 20 years and locks in pricing terms that neither party has made public. Comparable multi-year data center agreements in the AI sector typically include escalation clauses tied to inflation or grid rates.
Riot's total revenue is roughly $300 million annually as of late 2026, with Bitcoin mining contributing the majority. A $9.1 billion contract over 20 years amounts to $455 million per year in lease revenue if evenly distributed, though the phrasing does not confirm payment structure or timing. The deal's concentration of a single customer's load raises operational risk for Riot if Anthropic's compute needs shift or the contract is renegotiated.
