Why Hut 8 Stock Is Suddenly a $9.8 Billion AI Data Center Bet

Why Hut 8 Stock Is Suddenly a $9.8 Billion AI Data Center Bet

MIAMI, May 10, 2026, 10:02 EDT

Hut 8 Corp. ended Friday’s U.S. session at $98.46, a drop of $2.81 from its previous close, with investors weighing just how much of the week’s AI-driven data-center surge would stick around. Rosenblatt Securities on Friday bumped its price target up to $124 from $89 after Hut 8’s new lease in Texas marked another pivot from its bitcoin-mining roots toward AI infrastructure.

Hut 8’s pitch is straightforward, but the stakes are high: it wants investors to see it not as a crypto miner, but as a data-center landlord with serious power infrastructure. That’s a key distinction, especially since AI model training and inference chew through electricity, space, and cooling — all core to miners’ existing operations. For firms with energy-heavy sites, the bet is that AI could be their next chapter.

Hut 8 disclosed its Beacon Point lease spans 352 megawatts of IT load at a campus located in Nueces County, Texas. That figure refers specifically to the power consumed by servers and related gear, not the facility’s total utility usage. For the initial phase, Hut 8 says roughly 500 MW of utility capacity is required.

Hut 8’s latest quarterly filing pegs the contract at roughly $9.8 billion spread across 15 years, factoring in 3% annual rent bumps. The tenant? A technology giant with “multi-trillion-dollar market capitalization” and “high-investment-grade” status, per the same document. The first phase is scheduled for delivery in the third quarter of 2027. SEC

Chief Executive Asher Genoot told Reuters the company has a “15-year obligation” from a counterparty with high investment grade, with no option to terminate for convenience. Under the lease, the structure is “take-or-pay”—so the customer still pays the contracted amount whether they use the full capacity or not. It’s also “triple-net,” pushing costs like taxes, insurance, and upkeep onto the tenant. Reuters

Hut 8’s first-quarter revenue shot up to $71.0 million from $21.8 million a year ago. Still, the bottom line worsened: net loss deepened to $253.1 million. The culprit? $295.7 million in digital-asset losses, most of them unrealized, reflecting swings in asset values on paper.

Broker calls kept shifting. Piper Sandler bumped its price target up to $127 from $93 and stuck with an “overweight” call, MarketBeat noted. BTIG also boosted its target, now $115 from $90, maintaining its “buy” rating. According to MarketBeat, sixteen analysts are on Buy, with just one on Sell. MarketBeat

The field isn’t limited to Hut 8. Others like IREN and Core Scientific are getting into AI services and high-performance computing, too, capitalizing on power access as it grows harder to come by. Bitcoin mining profits still hinge on coin prices and network dynamics.

But this wager won’t pay off overnight. Hut 8 has yet to get Beacon Point across the finish line, nail down project financing, and keep a handle on the risks tied to its bitcoin-backed debt. According to its 10-Q, the company is on the hook for a $200 million loan from FalconX, collateralized with Bitcoin—if collateral prices slide, margin calls or even liquidation kick in.

Right now, Hut 8’s ambitions go beyond just mining blocks. The real test: can the company actually convert those AI lease agreements into completed facilities, secured power, and real cash flow before it runs into construction delays, cost overruns, or a fresh move in bitcoin that drags the shares back to their old range?

Khadija Saeed

Khadija Saeed is a financial markets reporter at TS2.tech. Her coverage ranges from stocks and technology to emerging industries and developments across global markets. She studied economics and finance at the London School of Economics and worked in market research before becoming a financial journalist. Follow Khadija Saeed on Google News.

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