Riot Platforms Names Anthropic as Tenant in $28 Billion Corsicana Lease
Riot Platforms' 10-Q filing identifies Anthropic as the tenant behind a 15-year, roughly $28 billion lease of its 910 MW Corsicana, Texas campus. The filing also shows Riot could owe the tenant 12% annual interest on up to $3.6 billion in build costs if outside financing is not secured.
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What the Filing Confirms
Riot Platforms identified Anthropic as the AI lab behind its Corsicana lease in a quarterly report filed Wednesday, after its earlier results release described the tenant only as a "leading Frontier AI Lab." According to the 10-Q, a Riot subsidiary signed the lease on Oct. 28 with Anthropic PBC, and the agreement became binding on Nov. 4 after Riot's board approved it and outside consultants signed off on technical specifications.
An earlier Crypto Briefing report had attributed the tenant identity to social media reports and noted that Riot's filing did not confirm it. The 10-Q resolves that point. The same defined term also covers the 191 MW Rockdale lease signed in August, which puts Anthropic on 1,101 MW of the 1,151 MW Riot has contracted. AMD holds the remaining 50 MW.
Lease Economics and Financing
The lease covers the full 910 MW of critical IT capacity on the 332-acre campus. Base rent starts at $130 per kilowatt per month and escalates 3% annually. That implies about $1.42 billion in annual rent at the starting rate. Riot puts average annual rent at about $1.8 billion over the initial term, or roughly $54 billion if Anthropic exercises both five-year extensions. The roughly $28 billion headline figure reported by Crypto Briefing reflects the initial term.
The financing terms are where the sources diverge in emphasis. Riot agreed to reimburse Anthropic up to $4 million per megawatt for data center modules the tenant installs, or about $3.6 billion across the full site. That reimbursement is conditional on Riot raising funds "on market terms reasonably acceptable to it." If that financing is unavailable, Riot would instead issue rent credits that amortize the amount "plus interest at 12% per year" over the initial term. Riot's stated base case is non-recourse project debt sized to contracted rent, with a total capital requirement of about $6 million per MW, or $5.5 billion, and no equity issuance currently expected.
Delivery Risk and Operating Constraints
The lease places most delivery risk on Riot. Capacity arrives in three phases: 400 MW targeted for June 28, 2027, 200 MW from Dec. 24, 2027, and 310 MW from July 30, 2028. Delays beyond 60 days trigger escalating rent credits capped at 270 days of base rent for the undelivered blocks. If a phase slips 270 days past its target, Anthropic may terminate that phase on 30 days' notice, with force majeure extensions of up to 365 days.
The agreement also restricts Riot's operational flexibility. Riot cannot curtail the tenant's power load or enroll the site in voluntary demand response programs without consent, which limits a revenue channel the company historically used on the Texas grid. A change of control involving certain restricted parties would allow Anthropic to terminate or buy Riot's interest at 95% of fair market value. Riot's own termination rights are limited to uncured payment defaults and bankruptcy events.
Strategic Context
The build is the stated reason for Riot's bitcoin sales this year. According to the 10-Q, the company sold 20,264 BTC for about $1.5 billion in the first nine months of 2026 and ended September holding 2,418 BTC, worth about $202 million. Riot expects to continue selling substantially all bitcoin it mines and does not anticipate building significant holdings near term. That positions it differently from peers such as American Bitcoin, which reported a third-quarter profit largely from gains on its bitcoin holdings.
Why It Matters
For Traders
Riot's 10-Q-confirmed sales of mined bitcoin to fund construction mean steady sell-side flow from the company should be expected while the build proceeds.
For Investors
The lease shifts Riot's revenue base toward long-term AI tenancy, but the 12% interest fallback and delivery penalties make the financing outcome the key variable to monitor.
For Builders
Power-curtailment prohibitions and change-of-control clauses in this lease show how AI tenants are writing hard limits into data center contracts that miners-turned-hosts must now design around.
This article is for information only and is not financial advice. Read the full disclaimer.
