The $28 billion AI deal Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms signed with Anthropic raises the prospect that billions of dollars in facility costs will be repaid from future rents at 12% annual interest.
According to the deal reported by CoinDesk, Riot will provide the land and power infrastructure at its Corsicana campus in Texas, while Anthropic, the developer of Claude, will install and operate the computing equipment. Covering a total of 910 megawatts of capacity, the project represents a major step in opening up energy infrastructure used for Bitcoin mining to AI services.
The first capacity is scheduled to come online in June 2027, with the full capacity expected to be operational by July 2028. Riot expects average annual rental revenue of $1.8 billion over the initial 15-year contract term once the project reaches full capacity.
How will the $5.5 billion cost be covered?
A presentation the company released Wednesday estimated the total project cost at approximately $5.5 billion. About $1.8 billion of that is allocated to Riot’s site and power infrastructure work, while up to $3.6 billion will go toward covering Anthropic’s eligible data center facility costs.
Riot’s financing example assumes that 80–90% of the cost will be covered by debt. Under this scenario, the company’s own cash contribution would be approximately $500 million to $1.1 billion. The financing process is scheduled to begin in 2027.
12% interest could be offset against rental revenue
Under the arrangement described in the quarterly filing, Anthropic’s eligible facility costs will be repaid after the relevant phase is delivered and begins generating rent. As part of this arrangement, Anthropic can offset the costs against future rents, with 12% annual interest.
Therefore, alongside the expected average annual rental revenue of $1.8 billion, deductions for repayments from that revenue are also significant. The stated 12% is not interest on a bank loan applied to the project’s total cost; it is part of the repayment mechanism for those facility costs.
Riot sold more than 20,000 Bitcoin in nine months
Riot is also turning to Bitcoin sales to fund its data center investments. The company sold 20,264 BTC for approximately $1.5 billion in the first nine months of 2026. Most of the proceeds went toward data center development and repaying a $200 million Coinbase loan.
The company, which held 2,418 BTC at the end of September, expects to continue selling nearly all of the Bitcoin it newly mines. Riot also says it does not currently expect to issue new shares for the projects it has announced.
Not investment advice.
