Riot’s $28 billion AI lease gives Anthropic a veto on voluntary power cuts

Riot Platforms' Corsicana lease with AI company Anthropic became binding Nov. 4, making voluntary curtailment of the tenant's power load subject to its consent. The agreement puts a tenant-approval requirement around an operating choice the Bitcoin miner has used in its power strategy.

Under the terms disclosed in Riot's quarterly filing, Riot needs Anthropic's consent to curtail the tenant's load or enroll the premises in voluntary demand-response programs. Mandatory orders from the utility or grid operator are exempt.

The agreement, signed Oct. 28, covers a planned 910 megawatts of critical IT capacity. Riot's earnings presentation puts initial-term contract revenue at approximately $28 billion, including annual escalators before amortization of tenant reimbursements. That figure spans future lease revenue, rather than cash already received or current profit.

The operating restriction changes the choices behind that revenue. Riot's mining strategy includes selling unused or uneconomic contracted power at Rockdale and voluntarily reducing consumption at Rockdale and Corsicana during Texas summer peaks. The company reported $25 million in companywide power-curtailment credits in the third quarter; peak-demand transmission savings separately lower subsequent-year bills.

The lease illustrates the shift from mining's flexible power use toward AI load subject to tenant consent. Anthropic bears the leased site's electricity bill, and the disclosures do not quantify any curtailment income Riot might forgo.

Rent follows delivery

The expected 910 MW must still be delivered. Riot targets the first block for June 28, 2027, with the full 400 MW first phase due that September. Another 200 MW is targeted for January 2028 and the final 310 MW for July 2028.

Base rent starts at $130 per kilowatt of delivered critical IT capacity per month, increasing 3% annually. The initial term begins with the first block and ends in the month containing the fifteenth anniversary of Phase 3's commencement.

Rent begins pad by pad, with up to a 60-day extension if Anthropic's modules are not installed at delivery. Once capacity is delivered and rent commences, the presentation describes payment as independent of utilization. Riot must build the site and power infrastructure and maintain the power infrastructure; Anthropic bears electricity, taxes, insurance and site expenses.

The gap between construction and rent also featured in CryptoSlate's earlier coverage of Riot's separate Rockdale financing. At Corsicana, Riot estimates roughly $5.5 billion of hard costs, including site work and tenant module reimbursements.

Riot must reimburse Anthropic for eligible module costs, up to $4 million per megawatt of critical IT power actually achieved, subject to financing on market terms reasonably acceptable to Riot. If financing remains unavailable after commercially reasonable efforts, Riot instead credits Anthropic's rent. Those credits amortize the reimbursement plus 12% annual interest over the remaining initial term, reducing rent collected in cash.

Capacity more than 60 days late triggers escalating rent credits, capped at 270 days of base rent for undelivered blocks in the relevant phase. A phase delayed beyond 270 days can be terminated on 30 days' notice, subject to cure rights and extensions for force majeure or tenant-caused delays.