Riot Taps Bitcoin Treasury to Fund $9.1B AI Data Center Deal
Riot Platforms, a Bitcoin miner, is planning to fund its $9.1 billion AI data center deal through the sale of its existing Bitcoin treasury. The company has signed a lease for a 191-megawatt data center with an unnamed frontier AI lab that is expected to generate $9.1 billion in gross contract revenue over a 20-year base term.
The construction budget for the data center includes continued sales from Riot's Bitcoin inventory, which totals 11,380 coins. The company has already sold 9,665 Bitcoin for $732.5 million during the first half of this year.
Riot expects to incur capital spending of $2.1 billion to $2.3 billion on the project, with 80% to 90% coming from long-term project debt. The company also has a $573 million interim facility administered by Morgan Stanley Senior Funding for long-lead equipment and development costs.
The first phase of the data center is expected to be completed in December 2027, when initial rent is expected to commence, and the remaining capacity will be delivered in June 2028. Until then, Riot still needs financing that is not yet closed and continued Bitcoin sales for equity.