Riot Platforms signs 15-year lease for 910 megawatts at Corsicana with an unnamed AI lab

Riot says the lease is worth about $1.8bn a year in rent on average over the initial term, but it has not named the tenant.

Riot Platforms has signed a 15-year lease for 910 megawatts of critical IT capacity at Corsicana with an AI developer it does not name. Its results release calls the tenant "a leading Frontier AI Lab". Riot puts the contract at about $28bn in total, or about $1.8bn a year in rent on average over the initial term.

The headline value needs careful reading. Cryptonomist reported that the $28bn includes contractual rent increases, and that the total would be about $54bn if the tenant takes both five-year extension options. Riot says total capital cost at Corsicana is about $6m per IT megawatt, about half the capital of a Tier 3 build. It says it does not currently expect to issue equity to fund its announced projects.

A 15-year term gives Riot a longer contracted base than shorter hosting agreements would. But the $28bn depends on how the lease is built, including delivery timing and which power and build-out costs fall to Riot. It also rests on a single tenant. The rent is only as good as that tenant's credit, and Riot has not said who it is.