Riot secures $9.1 billion data-center lease tied to Anthropic

Riot Platforms secured a 20-year lease for 191 megawatts of critical IT capacity at its Rockdale, Texas, campus. Reports identified the customer as Anthropic, the developer of Claude. Riot has not publicly named the tenant. The first 96 megawatts are scheduled for delivery in December 2027. The remaining 95 megawatts are expected by June 2028. Riot estimates the initial lease will generate about $9.1 billion through June 2048. Two five-year extensions could increase the total contract value to $16.1 billion. A Riot subsidiary entered into a senior secured delayed-draw facility administered by Morgan Stanley Senior Funding. The facility provides access to up to $573 million for long-lead equipment and initial development costs. The facility matures on Dec. 31, 2026. The delayed-draw structure means Riot has not necessarily received the full $573 million. Riot described the facility as interim financing while it finalizes an investment-grade credit backstop. Riot has not disclosed the backstop provider, committed amount, or binding terms. Riot estimates the Rockdale project will cost between $2.1 billion and $2.3 billion. Riot expects debt financing to cover roughly $1.7 billion to $2.1 billion. The assumed loan-to-cost ratio is 80% to 90%. Borrowings carry adjusted term SOFR plus 2.75%, or a defined base rate plus 1.75%, along with other fees. The debt is secured primarily by project borrower assets and specified credit parties. The debt generally has no recourse to Riot Platforms itself. The disclosed collateral does not identify Bitcoin. BitcoinTreasuries.net data shows that Riot holds around 11,380 BTC.