Riot Stocks Jump 10% as AMD Signs $311M 10-Year Data Center Lease at Rockdale
Riot Platforms’ shares rose ~10% after the company bought 200 acres at its Rockdale, Texas site for $96 million (funded via sale of ~1,080 BTC) and signed a 10-year Data Center Lease and Services Agreement with AMD. AMD will take 25 MW of critical IT load starting January 2026 with a second-phase delivery in May 2026; the initial 10-year deal is valued at $311 million with three optional five-year extensions that could raise the total contract value to about $1 billion. The agreement includes options for a 75 MW expansion and a right of first refusal on an additional 100 MW, meaning AMD could ultimately occupy up to 200 MW at Rockdale. Riot has begun retrofitting an existing building and budgeted $89.8 million capex (~$3.6M per MW). The Rockdale purchase unlocks a site with 700 MW grid interconnection, water and fiber; combined with Riot’s Corsicana holdings, the company now controls >1,100 acres and 1.7 GW of capacity in Texas. Riot remains a major Bitcoin holder (18,005 BTC). The move signals a strategic pivot toward AI and high-performance computing infrastructure amid surging demand for data-center power and land.
Bullish
The news is bullish for crypto markets and Riot specifically for several reasons: 1) Strategic diversification: Riot monetized ~1,080 BTC to acquire land and pivot toward AI-ready data-center revenue, reducing sole dependence on volatile bitcoin-mining revenue and adding stable, multi-year contracted cash flows (AMD’s $311M initial value and potential ~$1B total). 2) Revenue and valuation upside: A large, visible tenant like AMD validates Riot’s development capabilities and should support higher revenue visibility and investor confidence, often translating into upward stock and token-related sentiment. 3) Demand backdrop: The announcement comes amid strong, structural demand for AI compute capacity — securing land, 700 MW interconnection and an anchor tenant positions Riot to capture long-term higher-margin infrastructure revenue. 4) Treasury and balance-sheet signal: Using BTC reserves to fund strategic assets signals active capital allocation rather than simple hodling, which traders may view positively. Short-term impact: The stock jumped ~10% immediately, driven by the deal’s scale and clarity; crypto markets may see modest positive spillover (sentiment-driven) toward on-chain assets tied to mining firms. Expect increased trading volume and volatility in Riot’s equity and any miner-related tokens. Long-term impact: If AMD (and similar tenants) exercise expansion options, Riot’s recurring cash flows and asset value would materially improve, supporting sustained upside. Risks: BTC price moves, execution risk on retrofit/capex, and macro slowdown in AI capex could limit upside. Overall, the combination of de-risked contracted revenue and large power capacity makes the news net bullish for Riot and mildly positive for mining/infra-linked crypto sentiment.