Hut 8 signs $9.8 billion AI data center lease in Texas as Bitcoin miner pivots to hyperscale

Hut 8 signs about $10 billion AI data center lease in Texas

May 6 (Reuters) - Hut 8 (HUT.O), opens new tab said on Wednesday it had signed a 15-year lease worth $9.8 billion for its Beacon Point data center campus in Texas, as demand rises for infrastructure to train and serve AI models. Shares of the Miami, Florida-based AI data center developer jumped more than 10% in premarket trading. The deal is yet another signal of growing demand for power and ⁠data center capacity as companies race to expand their AI capabilities. The agreement covers 352 megawatts (MW) capacity in the first phase of the project with an undisclosed tenant. Hut 8 said the client would install computing equipment at the site to support large-scale AI training and operations. "We have a 15-year obligation from a high-investment-grade counterparty and the contract is structured on a take-or-pay, triple-net basis with no termination for convenience," Hut 8 CEO Asher Genoot told Reuters. The project, in Nueces County, is part of a planned 1 gigawatt campus and reflects ⁠growing demand for energy-hungry data centers driven by AI. The contract includes annual rent increases and could be worth as much as $25.1 billion if renewal options are exercised, Hut 8 added. The deal expands the company's contracted data center capacity for AI to 597 MW, with total contract value rising ⁠to about $16.8 billion. Power is expected to be connected to the site in early 2027, with the first building scheduled for completion later that year. The facility is being designed using Nvidia's (NVDA.O), opens new tab latest data center ⁠systems, highlighting the chipmaker's influence in AI infrastructure. The project is being built with partners, including American Electric Power (AEP.O), opens new tab, Vertiv (VRT.N), opens new tab and Jacobs (J.N), opens new tab, as competition grows among companies racing to ⁠meet the computing and energy needs of AI firms. Across its broader pipeline, Hut 8 is pursuing more than 7 gigawatts of potential capacity, signaling continued expansion as demand from large tech firms increases. Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Joyjeet Das Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab * Suggested Topics: * Technology Akash Sriram Thomson Reuters Akash reports on technology companies in the United States, electric vehicle companies, and the space industry. His reporting usually appears in the Autos & Transportation and Technology sections. He has a postgraduate degree in Conflict, Development, and Security from the University of Leeds. Akash's interests include music, football (soccer), and Formula 1.

Hut 8 signs a 15-year, $9.8bn lease for the first phase of its Texas AI data centre

The Beacon Point lease, anchored by an unnamed investment-grade tenant, lifts Hut 8's contracted AI capacity to 597 MW and $16.8bn in base-term value. The Bitcoin-miner-to-AI-landlord pivot is now substantially complete. There is a particular kind of corporate transformation that is supposed to take years, and Hut 8 has done it in roughly 18 months. On Tuesday, the company announced that it has commercialised the first phase of its Beacon Point campus in Nueces County, Texas, through a 15-year lease covering 352 megawatts of IT capacity at a base-term contract value of $9.8bn. With three five-year renewal options included in the contract, the cumulative value could reach approximately $25.1bn if exercised. The tenant is described as a confidential high-investment-grade company. The lease structure is triple-net. The workloads are AI training and inference. Initial data-hall delivery is expected in the third quarter of 2027. On those facts alone, this is one of the largest individual data-centre leases announced this year. The deeper structural story is what Hut 8 has, in the past two quarters, become. Hut 8's pivot has been visible for a while. In December 2025, the company signed a 15-year, 245 MW lease at its River Bend campus worth $7bn over the base term. The Beacon Point announcement adds 352 MW more, bringing total contracted AI data-centre capacity to 597 MW and aggregate base-term value to approximately $16.8bn. The company's compounded contracted revenue line, before any renewals are exercised, now exceeds the entire combined market capitalisation of most of its Bitcoin-mining peers. What makes the trajectory notable is the speed at which Bitcoin-mining infrastructure has been re-purposed for AI training. What differs is the customer base. Bitcoin pays in volatile cryptocurrency. Hyperscalers pay in 15-year triple-net leases against investment-grade balance sheets. The Beacon Point lease covers the first phase of a planned 1 GW campus, with the remaining ~650 MW available for subsequent commercialisation. The 15-year base term, triple-net structure, and confidential investment-grade tenant designation are the standard features of large hyperscaler-anchored data-centre transactions. Triple-net means the tenant pays operating expenses, taxes, and insurance in addition to base rent, so Hut 8 captures the cash flow without absorbing the operating cost variability. The renewal-option mechanics are what produce the $25.1bn ceiling figure. Three successive five-year extensions, each at pre-agreed terms, would extend the lease to 30 years and lift cumulative contract value to roughly $25.1bn. Whether those options are exercised is a 2042-and-beyond question. What matters now is that the renewal pricing is locked at deal structures Hut 8 already considers attractive. The Beacon Point announcement landed alongside Hut 8's Q1 2026 results. The earnings release confirmed that the company's transformation is now visible at the financial-statement level: AI data-centre lease revenue is becoming the dominant line, with Bitcoin mining contributing a steadily smaller share of forward earnings. The geographic choice reflects a wider trend. Texas has emerged as one of the most accommodating US jurisdictions for AI infrastructure, with grid interconnection processes faster than in most coastal markets and zoning regimes more permissive than in Northern Virginia. The same pattern is visible elsewhere on the demand side. Meta's $13bn El Paso data-centre financing announced last week concentrates capacity in the same state, and Blackstone's BXDC data-centre REIT IPO last week explicitly identifies Texas as a top-tier market alongside Northern Virginia, Ohio, Maryland, Phoenix, and Austin. The wider AI-infrastructure context tightens the logic. Thailand's $29bn data-centre approval cycle led by TikTok this week describes Southeast Asian capacity scaling at hyperscaler-equivalent commitments. Samsung Electronics crossing $1tn on AI memory demand on the same Wednesday Hut 8 announced is the supply-side signal that the AI compute build-out is still tightening rather than slowing. Hut 8's Beacon Point lease is the operator-side outcome of the same dynamic. Tenants want capacity now, are willing to commit for 15 years, and will pay investment-grade premiums to anyone who can deliver megawatts on the timeline they need. What are the risks behind the deal? Q3 2027 initial data-hall delivery is an aggressive timeline given the construction, permitting, and grid-interconnection cycles that typically govern projects of this scale, and slippage is a real risk. The second is tenant concentration. A confidential investment-grade tenant locked into a 15-year lease is a structural strength only as long as the tenant remains creditworthy and committed; the same lease becomes a liability if the underlying workload economics change. The third is the broader AI-capex durability question. If hyperscaler capex moderates from current $725bn-plus annual run-rates, lease pricing on subsequent Beacon Point phases compresses with it. None of which is fatal. The 15-year base term insulates Hut 8 from short-cycle volatility, and the triple-net structure pushes operating-cost risk onto the tenant. What changes for Hut 8 over the next 18 months is whether the remaining ~650 MW of Beacon Point capacity attracts comparable terms, and whether the company can maintain the construction velocity its 2027 delivery commitment requires. On Tuesday's evidence, the pivot from Bitcoin miner to AI landlord is no longer a strategic intent. It is a contracted, nine-figure-revenue reality.

Hut 8 Shares Hit All-Time High Price as Bitcoin Miner Signs $9.8 Billion AI Data Center Lease - Decrypt

The campus, originally planned for Bitcoin mining, is built to Nvidia's DSX architecture. Bitcoin mining firm Hut 8 Corp. announced Wednesday that it has signed a 15-year, $9.8 billion lease for the first phase of its Beacon Point AI data center campus in Nueces County, Texas -- a deal that underscores the accelerating race among infrastructure companies to capitalize on surging demand for AI computing power. Shares in the firm (HUT) are flying high in early Wednesday trading, recently changing hands around $107 -- a 33% rise from Tuesday's closing price, per Yahoo Finance. Hut 8's share price has more than doubled in the last month alone, with Wednesday's early peak of $109.88 representing an all-time high for the stock. The agreement covers 352 megawatts of IT capacity with a tenant described only as a confidential, high-investment-grade company that plans to deploy dedicated compute infrastructure to support AI training and inference workloads at hyperscale. Rather than building for a predetermined customer, the company originally underwrote the Beacon Point site to serve its subsidiary, the Trump-backed American Bitcoin, before repositioning the campus toward AI infrastructure as power demand accelerated and customer requirements broadened. The company also redesigned the facility mid-development: An initial data hall scoped for 224 megawatts was enlarged to support a 352-megawatt AI factory -- a 57% increase -- within the same land and utility footprint, after Nvidia's DSX reference architecture advanced toward commercial deployment with materially higher rack-level power densities. The deal brings Hut 8's total contracted AI data center capacity to 597 megawatts, with an aggregate base-term contract value of approximately $16.8 billion and average annual net operating income of approximately $1.1 billion. The lease includes a 3% annual rent escalator and three five-year renewal options that could push its total value to $25.1 billion. AEP Texas has executed an interconnection agreement for the full 1,000-megawatt campus, with initial energization expected in the first quarter of 2027 and first data hall delivery anticipated in the third quarter of that year. Beyond Beacon Point, Hut 8 is pursuing a broader pipeline spanning 7,545 megawatts of energy capacity under various stages of diligence and development. Hut 8's deal extends a recent streak of Bitcoin mining firms pivoting to embrace the growing AI compute opportunity, with major companies in the space signing multi-billion-dollar data center deals alongside their mining operations -- and some even abandoning their Bitcoin roots amid price volatility and rising mining difficulty.

Hut 8 Stock Surges Over 30% Following $9.8B Deal

The company also announced a new AI energy leasing deal as it continues to diversify into adjacent high-performance computing applications. Investors appeared to disregard Hut 8's reported first quarter 2026 net loss of more than $253 million on Wednesday, lifting the shares of the Bitcoin mining company by more than 33%. Hut 8 attributed the loss to a reduction in the market value of its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings, which fell from a high of over $126,000 apiece in October to a low of $60,000 in February. Revenue for quarter totaled more than $71 million, down by about 22% from the previous period's $88.4 million, according to Hut 8's earnings statements. Analysts had forecast $78.5 million, according to FactSet. The company also announced a $9.8 billion deal that will see Hut 8 lease 352 megawatts to a third-party AI company over a 15-year period. Wednesday's results showed the company generated $66.0 million in first quarter revenue from ASIC compute, AI cloud and traditional cloud solutions. Hut 8's stock surged following news of a $9.8 billion deal. Source: Yahoo Finance The company's diversification into AI and energy infrastructure comes amid an industry-wide pivot away from crypto mining, as public crypto mining companies struggle with high costs and declining revenues. Related: Bitcoin miner Core Scientific shifts to AI with 1.5GW data center push The shift to AI threatens the Bitcoin mining industry, according to crypto trader and market analyst Ran Neuner. "Both industries compete for the same thing: electricity," Neuner said, adding, "right now, AI is willing to pay much more for it." Mining companies can make anywhere between $57 and $129 per MW securing the blockchain, compared to between $200 and $500 per MW for AI infrastructure, he said. Revenue comparison for Bitcoin mining and AI hosting. Source: Ran Neuner As miners shift their focus to more-profitable AI ventures, the total amount of computing power dedicated to securing the Bitcoin blockchain declines, making the network easier to attack, Neuner said. The need for massive amounts of energy to power high-performance computing applications, including Bitcoin mining and AI workloads, has driven demand for nuclear energy generation. Since 2024, several AI hyperscaling companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta have announced nuclear energy deals to power their AI infrastructure.

Hut 8, Cipher Digital Stocks Boom As AI Data Center Deals Fuel Rally - Cipher Digital (NASDAQ:CIFR), Hut

HUT stock is soaring. See the chart and price action here. Hut 8's New Lease Shines HUT was up about 32%, according to Benzinga Pro data, after Hut 8 said it commercialized the first phase of its Beacon Point AI data center campus through a 15-year lease for 352 megawatts of IT capacity with a confidential, high-investment-grade tenant. The deal carries $9.8 billion in base-term contract value and could reach $25.1 billion if all three five-year renewal options are exercised, according to the company's release. Hut 8 said the tenant will deploy dedicated compute infrastructure for AI training and inference workloads. The company also said the project will be designed around Nvidia's DSX reference architecture and supported by counterparties including American Electric Power, Vertiv Holdings Co. and Jacobs. The lease expands Hut 8's total contracted AI data center capacity to 597 MW across two campuses and brings aggregate base-term contract value to approximately $16.8 billion. The company also posted first-quarter results on Wednesday morning with revenue of $71 million, driven largely by $66 million in Compute revenue. Hut 8 posted a Q1 net loss of $253.1 million that included unrealized losses on digital assets. Cipher Digital Signs Third Lease Hut 8's rally follows a similar move in Cipher Digital (NASDAQ:CIFR) on Tuesday. CIFR closed up 23.5% at $22.10 after the company reported first-quarter results and highlighted momentum in AI and HPC data centers, according to Benzinga Pro. Cipher said it signed its third AI data center campus lease with an investment-grade hyperscale tenant during the quarter. Under that 15-year agreement, Cipher will develop and deliver a new HPC data center at one of its existing sites. The Takeaway The back-to-back rallies suggest investors are increasingly rewarding crypto-linked infrastructure names that can convert power access into long-duration AI data center revenue. For Hut 8 and Cipher, the market reaction shows the Street is focused less on legacy mining volatility and more on contracted capacity, hyperscale demand and the economics of AI infrastructure buildouts. HUT Price Action: Hut 8 shares were up 34.80% at $108.52 at the time of publication on Wednesday. The stock is trading at a new 52-week high, according to Benzinga Pro data. Photo: Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.

Hut 8 signs about US$10 billion AI data centre lease in Texas, shares jump

Hut 8 said on Wednesday it had signed a 15-year lease worth US$9.8 billion for its Beacon Point data center campus in Texas, as demand rises for infrastructure to train and serve AI models. Shares of the Miami, Florida-based AI data center developer surged over 30 per cent in premarket trading. The deal is yet another signal of growing demand for power and data center capacity as companies race to expand their AI capabilities. The agreement covers 352 megawatts (MW) capacity in the first phase of the project with an undisclosed tenant. Hut 8 said the client would install computing equipment at the site to support large-scale AI training and operations. "We have a 15-year obligation from a high-investment-grade counterparty and the contract is structured on a take-or-pay, triple-net basis with no termination for convenience," Hut 8 CEO Asher Genoot told Reuters. The project, in Nueces County, is part of a planned 1 gigawatt campus and reflects growing demand for energy-hungry data centers driven by AI. The contract includes annual rent increases and could be worth as much as $25.1 billion if renewal options are exercised, Hut 8 added. The deal expands the company's contracted data center capacity for AI to 597 MW, with total contract value rising to about $16.8 billion. Power is expected to be connected to the site in early 2027, with the first building scheduled for completion later that year. The facility is being designed using Nvidia's latest data center systems, highlighting the chipmaker's influence in AI infrastructure. The project is being built with partners, including American Electric Power, Vertiv and Jacobs as competition grows among companies racing to meet the computing and energy needs of AI firms. Across its broader pipeline, Hut 8 is pursuing more than 7 gigawatts of potential capacity, signaling continued expansion as demand from large tech firms increases.

Hut 8 signs $9.8 billion AI data center lease in Texas By Investing.com

MIAMI - Hut 8 Corp. (NASDAQ:HUT) (TSX:HUT) announced today a 15-year lease agreement valued at $9.8 billion for 352 megawatts of IT capacity at its Beacon Point data center campus in Nueces County, Texas, according to a press release statement. The triple-net lease with an undisclosed high-investment-grade tenant covers AI training and inference workloads. The agreement includes three 5-year renewal options that could increase the total contract value to approximately $25.1 billion if exercised. The transaction brings Hut 8's total contracted AI data center capacity to 597 MW with aggregate base-term contract value of approximately $16.8 billion. The company expects the Beacon Point lease to contribute cumulative net operating income of $9.8 billion over the base lease term, translating to an average annual NOI contribution of $655 million upon stabilization. Hut 8 has executed an interconnection agreement for 1,000 MW of utility capacity at the site with AEP Texas, a subsidiary of American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP). The $74.3 billion utility company has maintained dividend payments for 56 consecutive years and currently trades near its 52-week high of $139.44, according to InvestingPro data. Initial energization is expected in the first quarter of 2027, with initial data hall delivery scheduled for the third quarter of 2027.Want deeper insights? InvestingPro offers access to exclusive ProTips, Fair Value estimates, and comprehensive financial health scores for AEP and over 1,400 US stocks. The 352 MW AI facility will be designed to NVIDIA's DSX reference architecture for gigawatt-scale AI infrastructure. Hut 8 is working with Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE:VRT) and Jacobs (NYSE:J) on the project's development and construction. The lease agreement includes a 3.0% annual base rent escalator. Hut 8 plans to support the development with project-level financing. The 352 MW lease represents the first phase of commercialization at the campus, which is designed to support up to 1,000 MW of utility capacity. The transaction advances 500 MW of utility capacity from Energy Capacity Under Development to Energy Capacity Under Construction status. Hut 8 operates as an energy infrastructure platform focused on AI, high-performance computing, and ASIC compute applications. In other recent news, American Electric Power reported robust first-quarter 2026 financial results, with earnings per share reaching $1.64, surpassing the projected $1.57. The company's revenue also exceeded expectations, coming in at $6.02 billion compared to the anticipated $5.65 billion. These results have been a focal point for investors, highlighting the company's financial health. Additionally, Scotiabank has increased its price target for American Electric Power to $140 from $131, maintaining a Sector Perform rating. This adjustment follows the company's announcement of new capital projects totaling $6 billion, which marks an 8% increase in its capital expenditure plan. Scotiabank pointed to the company's enhanced earnings growth outlook, now projected at a compound annual growth rate of over 9%. These developments underscore American Electric Power's strategic initiatives and financial performance, drawing attention from analysts and investors alike. This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

Hut 8 signs about $10 billion AI data center lease in Texas, shares jump

Hut 8 Corp. is a data mining company. The Company is a vertically integrated operator of large-scale energy infrastructure and bitcoin miner. The Company acquires, designs, builds, manages, and operates data centers that power compute-intensive workloads, such as bitcoin mining, high performance computing, and artificial intelligence (AI). The Company operates through four business segments: Digital Assets Mining, Managed Services, High Performance Computing-Colocation and Cloud, and Other. Its infrastructure portfolio includes about eighteen sites: nine Bitcoin mining, hosting, and Managed Services sites in Alberta, New York, Nebraska, and Texas, five high performance computing data centers in British Columbia and Ontario, and four power generation assets in Ontario. Its Managed Services business provides institutional partners such as digital asset mining site owners, governments, and data center developers an end-to-end partnership model for energy infrastructure development.