Cipher Barber Lake extends lease with Fluidstack, revenue tops $9 billion
Individual data halls are expected to be delivered between the fourth quarter of 2026 and the first quarter of 2027
Published
Cipher Digital's subsidiary Cipher Barber Lake LLC has amended its lease with Fluidstack USA II and signed a binding commitment with a leading AI lab for an additional ten-year lease at the Barber Lake HPC data center facility. The changes stretch the site's aggregate contracted term to twenty years.
Total contracted revenue at the site rises to more than $9 billion from $3.8 billion, with the new lease term adding about $5.2 billion in incremental revenue. Individual data halls are expected to be delivered between the fourth quarter of 2026 and the first quarter of 2027, with rent starting for each hall as it is delivered. The first rent payments are expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Under a related cost reimbursement framework, Cipher will absorb the first $359.3 million of costs above the initial budgeted amount for the project. Above that threshold, the tenant will reimburse 50% of further costs over the twenty-year term.
The amendment nearly triples site level contracted revenue and locks in a second decade of tenancy, reducing the risk attached to the long-dated capital Cipher has committed to Barber Lake. The 50% cost sharing above $359.3 million caps Cipher's exposure to construction overruns while leaving it the upside from the additional $5.2 billion in contracted rent. With first rent due to begin as early as the fourth quarter of 2026, the deal turns a single-tenant bet on high-performance computing into a longer, better-hedged revenue stream.