New York, Jan 16, 2026, 13:40 ET — Regular session.
- Riot Platforms shares surged roughly 13% following the announcement of its inaugural data center lease with AMD
- 10-year deal for 25 MW, with options pushing the total contract value close to $1 billion
- Riot has purchased 200 acres at its Rockdale, Texas location for $96 million, financing the deal through bitcoin sales
Riot Platforms (RIOT) shares surged almost 13% Friday following news that chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices will lease data center space at Riot’s Rockdale, Texas facility. The stock climbed 12.8% to $18.69 in afternoon trading, peaking at $18.89, on volume exceeding 35 million shares.
The deal gives Riot a flagship tenant as miners with substantial power capacity pivot from earning bitcoin rewards to securing steady data center contracts.
This happens amid a rush to secure locations capable of quickly powering artificial intelligence and high-performance computing—workloads that pack dense racks and gulp down electricity.
Riot announced a 10-year data center lease and services deal with AMD for an initial 25 megawatts of “critical IT load”—the power supplied to servers—set to roll out in stages from January through May. The company expects around $311 million in contract revenue, with extension options potentially pushing that total to about $1 billion. AMD also has the option to increase capacity up to 200 MW via add-ons, including a right of first refusal on more space. 1
Riot also announced it acquired 200 acres at its Rockdale site for $96 million, moving from a ground lease to full fee simple ownership — giving it outright control. To fund the purchase, the company sold about 1,080 bitcoin from its balance sheet. The site boasts a 700-megawatt interconnection to the grid. 2
CEO Jason Les described the AMD lease as one that “firmly establishes Rockdale” as a prime data center development site. AMD CIO Hasmukh Ranjan emphasized the need for partners who can “match our pace and scale” as the company expands its footprint in high-performance computing and AI infrastructure. 3
Riot has kicked off retrofitting an existing building for its first deployment, with retrofit capex estimated at $89.8 million—roughly $3.6 million per megawatt. The company also projects the lease will generate about $25 million in average net operating income annually, a metric that deducts direct lease expenses from lease revenue. 4
Bitcoin slipped roughly 0.9% to hover around $95,109. U.S.-listed miners, however, climbed on the day: Marathon Digital jumped nearly 7.9%, CleanSpark advanced about 6.6%, and Hut 8 rose close to 4.5%. AMD edged up around 1.6%.
The initial 25 MW may be modest compared to the huge setups miners usually build for their fleets, but investors want to see if these assets can be repositioned and valued more like a data center operation instead of just a bitcoin play.
The story could still flip. Retrofits might drag out or blow the budget, tenants could delay their expansion plans, and Riot’s mining cash flow remains volatile, tied to bitcoin prices and power expenses.
Traders are zeroing in on execution: the initial delivery in January and whether Riot meets the May completion deadline. After that, all eyes will shift to whether AMD exercises its expansion rights as the build-out moves forward.
