Riot shares surge on $28B AI lease as Hut 8 sinks on revenue miss — SkimNews
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- Riot estimated the AI project’s total capital costs at $5.5 billion, supplying land and power infrastructure while Anthropic owns and operates the computing equipment and covers operating expenses; debt backed by lease payments was the primary financing plan, but financing has not been secured.
- Riot expects the first phase to be delivered in September 2027, with rental payments beginning within 60 days of delivery; CEO Jason Les said Bitcoin mining at Corsicana could begin winding down in summer 2027.
- Riot reported third-quarter revenue of $181.4 million, up 1% year over year, and sold 10,599 BTC during the quarter to help finance its data-center expansion.
- Hut 8 shares plunged more than 22% at one point Wednesday after third-quarter revenue fell 15% to $71.1 million, missing the $75.8 million analyst estimate.
- Sean Glennan, Hut 8’s CFO, attributed the revenue decline partly to asset sales and lower revenue per Bitcoin mined, noted higher year-over-year cash administrative expenses and said the legacy revenue base was no longer the main growth driver while contracted infrastructure revenue remained tied to delivery milestones.
- Hut 8 secured $7.5 billion in project bonds to fully finance two major AI data-center developments, but neither had begun generating lease revenue.
- Asher Genoot, Hut 8’s CEO, compared today’s AI data centers to NASA rocket programs, calling them “remarkable engineering, but complex, expensive, and slow to deliver.”
Why it matters: Hut 8 shares plunged more than 22% after a 15% revenue decline, while neither AI development backed by $7.5B in project bonds had generated lease revenue. Riot has Anthropic as tenant, but financing for its $5.5B project has not been secured ahead of a September 2027 delivery, leaving financing and revenue timing as the divide between the two pivots.
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