Cipher Digital Soars on $54 Price Target After Securing Amazon Deal

Cipher Digital's transformation into an AI-infrastructure landlord has become easier to value after securing a major asset: a 15-year, $5.5 billion lease with Amazon Web Services at its Black Pearl site. Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Cipher Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:CIFR) to $54 from $43.50 while keeping an Overweight rating.

The company agreed to provide about 300 megawatts of power to AWS under the 15-year arrangement, with rent commencing in August 2026, two months ahead of schedule. This deal adds another hyperscaler validation point for Cipher Digital, following a separate transaction with Google at Barber Lake.

Cipher's bull case is that powered sites with interconnection rights have become scarce enough to justify monetizing land and electricity at infrastructure-like contract values rather than crypto-cycle multiples. However, the bear case highlights the risks of financing and execution, as long leases only become valuable after the data center is built, commissioned, and delivered on schedule.

Amazon benefits from this deal as it can secure capacity without developing every site itself, trading ownership risk for contractual commitments. However, the hyperscaler faces the same risk as other companies: contracted megawatts may look expensive if hardware becomes more efficient or AI demand grows more slowly than expected.