NEW YORK, May 5, 2026, 14:02 EDT
Cipher Digital Inc. shares jumped Tuesday, even as the company posted a deeper first-quarter loss. Investors zeroed in on Cipher’s announcement of a third AI data center campus lease and a fresh $200 million revolving credit line to back its move away from bitcoin mining.
This update carries weight as Cipher—earlier this year rebranded from Cipher Mining—pushes to show it can shift its energy-intensive crypto infrastructure into lasting data center leases tailored for high-performance computing, or HPC, the industry term for sites handling AI and other compute-heavy jobs. Latest quarterly numbers make the strain clear: mining revenue dropped, losses deepened, and the outlays for construction and financing only got heavier.
In March, the company locked in a 15-year lease with an unnamed investment-grade hyperscale tenant—a major cloud or tech player, though it’s not saying who. This lease stacks onto its earlier projects: Fluidstack’s buildout at Barber Lake and Amazon Data Services at Black Pearl. Both are scheduled for phased openings starting in 2026.
Tyler Page, Chief Executive, described 2026 as “the year of execution for Cipher.” He pointed to development gains at both Barber Lake and Black Pearl, and noted the third AI data center campus deal followed last year’s leasing streak. Page added that the revolving credit facility secured “up to $200 million of committed borrowing capacity.” Cipher Digital Inc.
Cipher posted bitcoin mining revenue of $34.8 million for the first quarter, slipping from $49.0 million in the same period last year. Net loss ballooned to $114.3 million, up sharply from $39.0 million. Adjusted EBITDA dropped into the red at minus $48.2 million, after reporting a positive $7.5 million previously.
Shares jumped about 16%, trading at $20.83 in the afternoon and putting Cipher’s market cap near $8.2 billion. Investors, for now, seemed willing to set aside the quarterly loss, zeroing in instead on Cipher’s contracted capacity and capital access.
Cipher now counts 907 megawatts of operating and contracted capacity, according to its presentation. That figure includes 700 megawatts of gross HPC capacity it has under contract. Contracted revenue tied to leases with base terms of 10 to 15 years stands at roughly $11.4 billion. The company also cited an average annualized net operating income of about $787 million over the base lease period—a metric it uses that leaves out certain costs and differs from reported net income.
Construction is still the sticking point. According to the company, Barber Lake reached its top-out in April, but mechanical, electrical, and networking installations are still progressing. Black Pearl’s Phase I retrofit, along with Phase II site work, are also ongoing. Cipher maintains that both jobs are on track.
Morgan Stanley Senior Funding is acting as both administrative and collateral agent on the new credit facility, which comes with a maturity set for March 2030 and features an accordion option that could add up to $50 million. Cipher noted that initial borrowing is capped at $50 million until work wraps up at Barber Lake and Black Pearl. As of March 31, the company reported zero borrowings outstanding on the facility.
They’re hardly the only ones eyeing AI infrastructure. IREN, TeraWulf, and Core Scientific—other bitcoin miners—have all pivoted heavily toward HPC development, especially as mining margins wobble and power access turns into a key battleground. S&P Global Market Intelligence flagged back in February that IREN, TeraWulf, and Core Scientific are now focused almost entirely on building out HPC, with analysts projecting that these moves will fuel most of their growth in 2026.
The risk is clear enough: Cipher is pouring money into the business before revenue from its new leases comes in. According to its filing, as of March 31, these leases hadn’t started and the company hadn’t booked any revenue from them. For now, Cipher is covering its expenses with a mix of financing, stock-sale authorization, and proceeds from bitcoin sales.
Things can shift fast—execution delays, equipment hiccups, power-market volatility, or tenant troubles could upend the outlook. According to Cipher’s own filing, missing key delivery benchmarks on its HPC leases could force them to offer rent credits or other concessions. The AI data center business isn’t a pure demand story; hitting build deadlines matters just as much.
