Riot Signs $28 Billion Corsicana Lease With Frontier AI Lab

Riot Platforms announced (RIOT ) on November 4, 2026, a 15-year triple-net powered land lease with an unnamed leading Frontier AI Lab for its entire Corsicana campus. The agreement covers 910 megawatts of critical IT capacity on a contiguous 332-acre parcel and represents approximately $28 billion in total contract value over the initial term.

Average annual rent is approximately $1.8 billion, including contractual escalators. If the tenant exercises both five-year extension options, total contract value would reach approximately $54 billion. Including its AMD contract and an earlier Rockdale lease with the same Frontier AI Lab, Riot now has 1,151 MW leased and approximately $38 billion of contracted data-center revenue. Management expects those contracts to generate more than $2 billion of average annual net operating income at full deployment.

Capital Plan and Delivery Schedule

Riot estimates Corsicana’s total capital cost at $5.5 billion, or $6 million per IT MW, approximately half the capital intensity of a typical Tier 3 build. It projects an unlevered yield on cost of approximately 33% and a triple-net net operating income margin of approximately 99%.

The division of responsibilities explains that margin structure. Riot will deliver the land, power infrastructure and powered pads while continuing to own and maintain the high- and medium-voltage infrastructure. The tenant will procure, install, own and operate the modular compute deployment and bear substantially all operating costs, including power costs as a pass-through. Rent is payable on the full 910 MW regardless of utilization.

Riot expects to fund $2 million per IT MW for site work and electrical infrastructure. The remaining $4 million per IT MW will be reimbursed to the tenant in phases after each phase is delivered and paying rent. Those reimbursements are expected to use non-recourse project debt sized to contracted rent. If financing on comparable market terms is unavailable, the tenant will directly fund the reimbursements and recover the amount as a credit against rent over the remaining lease term.

Deliveries are scheduled in three phases: 400 MW in September 2027, 200 MW in January 2028 and 310 MW in July 2028. Rent on each phase will begin no later than 60 days after delivery of its powered pads. Riot’s cash contribution is expected to come from existing liquidity, with no equity issuance currently anticipated.

Data Center Growth Counters Mining Decline

Riot reported third-quarter revenue of $181.4 million, compared with $180.2 million a year earlier, a 1% increase as Data Center and Engineering growth offset lower Bitcoin (BTC ) Mining revenue. Data Center revenue reached $18.4 million, including $7.7 million of base rent and $10.2 million of tenant fit-out reimbursement revenue. The quarter reflected the first full quarter of the stabilized 25 MW delivered to AMD. Engineering revenue rose to $47.0 million from $19.1 million, driven by third-party data-center demand for custom electrical equipment.

Bitcoin Mining revenue fell to $116.0 million from $160.8 million. The average bitcoin price declined to $70,855 from $114,361, partly offsetting a 16% production increase to 1,637 bitcoin from 1,406. The average cost to mine one bitcoin, excluding miner depreciation, fell to $39,265 from $46,324 because of lower power costs and higher production. Power curtailment credits totaled $24.7 million, equivalent to $15,067 per bitcoin mined.

Quarterly net income fell to $4.0 million from $104.5 million, while depreciation and amortization increased to $123.9 million from $82.9 million.

Bitcoin Sales Fund Expansion

Riot ended September 30, 2026, with $950.2 million in cash and bitcoin. That consisted of $748.2 million in cash, including $79.2 million restricted, and 2,418 bitcoin valued at approximately $202.0 million.

During the first nine months of 2026, Riot sold 20,264 bitcoin for approximately $1.5 billion, primarily to fund data-center development, and raised no equity during the year. It also repaid in full and terminated its $200 million Coinbase credit facility, releasing all pledged bitcoin.

The lease secures a tenant for the entire Corsicana campus, but its financial contribution remains tied to phased construction and financing. Delivering the powered pads on schedule and obtaining project debt on the expected terms are the next requirements for converting the contract’s value into rent and the returns Riot has projected.