Riot shares surge on $28B AI lease as Hut 8 sinks on revenue miss

In the latest developments involving crypto miners moving into artificial intelligence, market observers comparing riot vs hut 8 noticed contrasting fortunes for the two companies on Wednesday. Shares of Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms surged more than 13% after the company announced a $28 billion AI data center lease, marking its largest agreement to date as it accelerates its expansion into artificial intelligence infrastructure.

The 15-year agreement covers 910 megawatts at its Corsicana, facility in Texas, bringing its total future contracted data center revenue to approximately $38 billion across three leases signed this year. According to Riot’s third-quarter earnings release, Riot will provide land and power infrastructure originally developed for Bitcoin mining, while the AI tenant, identified as Anthropic in the company’s quarterly filing, will own and operate computing equipment and cover operating expenses. Riot reported third-quarter revenue of $181.4 million, up just 1% year over year, and sold 10,599 BTC during the quarter to help finance the expansion. During Wednesday’s earnings call, CEO Jason Les stated that Bitcoin mining at Corsicana could begin winding down in the summer of 2027.

Riot Platforms shares surged over 13% following a $28 billion AI data center lease announcement.

Financial contrasts in the mining sector

Meanwhile, shares of fellow Bitcoin miner Hut 8 plunged more than 22% at one point on Wednesday after the company reported weaker-than-expected quarterly revenue amid its own transition toward AI infrastructure. Third-quarter revenue fell 15% to $71.1 million, missing analysts’ estimates of $75.8 million, according to MarketBeat data. During Wednesday’s earnings call, CFO Sean Glennan attributed the decline partly to asset sales and lower revenue per Bitcoin mined, while cash administrative expenses rose year over year. CEO Asher Genoot pointed to the complexity and expense of traditional AI data center construction as the company develops projects on a larger scale, noting that many data centers remain slow to deliver and expensive to build.

Why it matters

Bitcoin miner Riot sold BTC to finance its AI expansion, while Hut 8 reported falling revenue and rising costs before its major data center leases generate income. This shift highlights the changing financial strategies of crypto miners as they pivot toward long-term AI infrastructure agreements to secure future cash flow.