The deal followed Riot announcing last week that it sold more than $160 million of its Bitcoin holdings as part of a strategy shift, to broaden use of its data centers.
Shares of Riot Platforms jumped more than 11% after the crypto miner said it sold Bitcoin to help finance a land acquisition in Texas.
In a Friday notice, Riot said the $96 million deal for 200 acres of land in Rockdale, Texas was funded entirely by the sale of about 1,080 Bitcoin (BTC). The miner also signed a data center lease and services agreement with semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), initially deploying 25 megawatts (MW) of “critical IT load capacity.”
“These results mark a pivotal moment that cements Riot’s position as a leading data center developer, less than twelve months since the launch of our formal process to evaluate our assets for AI/HPC use,” said Riot CEO Jason Les.
Riot said the agreement for an initial 10-year term could generate about $311 million in revenue for the company, with the potential for $1 billion if three five-year extensions were exercised. The company’s shares on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol RIOT surged to $18.80 amid the announcement, marking an 11% increase in the previous 24 hours.
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The Texas deal followed Riot announcing last week that it had sold 1,818 BTC in December as part of a strategy shift from mining the cryptocurrency to using its data center infrastructure for other applications, including artificial intelligence. The company reported holding 18,005 BTC as of Dec. 31, worth more than $17 billion at the time of publication.
CleanSpark is also expanding Texas operations with AI and high-performance computing
CleanSpark announced a move similar to Riot’s on Wednesday after the Bitcoin mining company reached an agreement to buy 447 acres of land in Brazoria County, Texas. The miner said it planned to develop a 300 MW data center, which could be “designed for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing workloads.”
Riot and CleanSpark are just two of many companies focused on mining and crypto mining infrastructure to broaden their services amid increasing BTC difficulty. MARA Holdings, Core Scientific, Hut 8 and TeraWulf have also announced plans aligned with AI and high-performance computing.
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