Anthropic has signed a long-term agreement worth $9.1 billion with Bitcoin miner-turned-data centre operator Riot Platforms to secure 191 megawatts of computing capacity, Bloomberg reported.
The agreement, which runs through June 2048, covers capacity at Riot’s Rockdale campus in Texas. Two five-year extension options could increase the total value of the contract to as much as $16.1 billion.
Riot had announced the data centre agreement earlier on Monday without identifying its customer. Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, identified Anthropic as the customer.
Riot shares jumped 25 per cent to $24.40 in late trading following the disclosure.
The deal underscores the intensifying race among AI developers to secure the data centre capacity and computing power needed to support rapidly growing demand for AI services.
Anthropic has signed several large infrastructure agreements in recent months as it seeks to expand its computing capacity. The company recently agreed a $10 billion deal with infrastructure start-up Volta Infra Holdings and, in May, agreed to purchase nearly $45 billion worth of computing from Elon Musk’s xAI, Bloomberg reported.
For Riot, the agreement marks a significant expansion of its strategy to turn its power and data centre assets into infrastructure for the AI industry.
The company, which built its business around Bitcoin mining, is among a growing group of cryptocurrency miners seeking to diversify into AI data centre services as demand for computing infrastructure accelerates.
Riot said that the data centre agreement helped drive its second-quarter revenue above analysts’ expectations.
