Hut 8 signs $9.8 billion AI data center lease, fully commercializes Texas campus

Hut 8 Secures Massive AI Data Center Lease Worth $9.8 Billion

Hut 8, a company that has transformed from cryptocurrency mining to AI infrastructure, announced a second 15-year AI data center lease valued at $9.8 billion with an existing investment-grade customer 1

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. This agreement fully commercializes the company's 1-gigawatt Beacon Point campus in Nueces County, Texas, marking a significant milestone in the company's pivot toward serving the booming AI sector 4

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. The deal sent Hut 8 shares up approximately 5% in premarket trading, adding to gains that have nearly doubled the stock's value this year 3

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Beacon Point AI Data Center Campus Reaches Full Capacity

The new agreement covers 352 megawatts of IT capacity and doubles the unnamed tenant's total contracted footprint at the site to 704 MW 1

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. With this second phase, the Beacon Point AI data center campus now operates at full capacity against its 1,000 MW of utility capacity, secured under an interconnection agreement with AEP Texas for electric delivery service 4

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. The campus now has a base-term contract value of $19.6 billion over 15 years, with potential to reach as much as $50.2 billion if renewal options are exercised 2

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. The lease is structured as a triple net (NNN) deal executed on substantially the same terms as the Phase 1 lease, featuring a 3.0% annual rent escalator 4

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Nvidia's Architecture Powers Expanded AI Compute Infrastructure

Hut 8 redesigned the first data hall at Beacon Point around Nvidia's architecture, increasing capacity by 57% within the same land and utility capacity footprint 1

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. The company will deliver a second 352 MW AI factory designed to NVIDIA's DSX reference architecture for gigawatt-scale AI infrastructure supported by 500 MW of utility capacity 4

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. This optimization prompted the existing tenant to subsequently double its contracted capacity at the campus. Hut 8 expects to begin delivering the first Phase 2 data hall in the second quarter of 2028, with initial energization remaining on schedule for the first quarter of 2027 3

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Former Crypto Miner Pivots to AI Data Centre Infrastructure

Like several former bitcoin miners, Hut 8 has pivoted toward AI infrastructure, seeking to leverage power assets and data center expertise developed during the cryptocurrency boom to serve AI customers 1

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. Demand for compute infrastructure has accelerated since the launch of generative AI services, prompting technology companies to commit hundreds of billions of dollars toward data centers packed with advanced chips from Nvidia and others 3

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. The rush has shifted competition beyond semiconductors to power, transmission access and construction-ready sites, making electricity availability one of the industry's biggest constraints.

Portfolio Expansion Signals Growing AI Infrastructure Demand

Total contracted AI data center capacity across Hut 8's portfolio has increased to 949 MW, backed by 1,330 MW of utility capacity, with aggregate base-term contract value reaching $26.6 billion 1

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. The company expects average annual net operating income of more than $1.75 billion from its AI data center portfolio 2

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. All of the contracted capacity is leased to, or backed by, investment-grade counterparties, providing stable revenue streams 3

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. This positions Hut 8 to capture growing demand as AI companies scramble to secure power and infrastructure for training and deploying large-scale models, with the Texas campus becoming the company's first fully commercialized AI data center facility.