Riot's Corsicana lease with Anthropic becomes binding on Nov. 4

Riot's lease with Anthropic is now binding

Riot Platforms' Corsicana lease with AI company Anthropic became binding on Nov. 4. Under the lease, Riot needs Anthropic's consent to voluntarily cut the tenant's power load.

The agreement was signed on Oct. 28. It covers a planned 910 megawatts of critical IT capacity at Corsicana.

Riot is a publicly traded Bitcoin mining company. Anthropic is an AI safety and research company.

Main terms at a glance

• Riot needs Anthropic's consent to curtail the tenant's load or enroll the site in voluntary demand-response programs.
• Mandatory orders from the utility or grid operator are exempt from that consent rule.
• The planned capacity is 910 megawatts, with delivery targeted in phases through July 2028.
• Riot's earnings presentation puts initial-term contract revenue at about $28 billion.
• That $28 billion figure covers future lease revenue. It is not cash already received or current profit.

What Riot disclosed in its filing

Demand-response programs are programs where a power user agrees to reduce power use at certain times. Under the disclosed terms, Riot needs Anthropic's consent before it can cut the tenant's load on a voluntary basis or enroll the premises in those programs.

Base rent starts at $130 per kilowatt of delivered critical IT capacity per month and rises by 3% each year. Rent starts pad by pad, as each part of the site is delivered, with up to a 60-day extension if Anthropic's modules are not installed at delivery.

Once capacity is delivered and rent starts, payment is described in the presentation as independent of utilization, meaning rent does not depend on how much the capacity is used. Riot must build the site and power infrastructure and maintain the power infrastructure. Anthropic bears electricity, taxes, insurance and site expenses, including the leased site's electricity bill.

Delivery targets through July 2028

Riot targets the first block for June 28, 2027. The full 400-megawatt first phase is targeted for that September.

Another 200 megawatts are targeted for January 2028. The final 310 megawatts are targeted for July 2028.

The initial term begins with the first block and ends in the month containing the fifteenth anniversary of Phase 3's commencement.

Construction costs and possible rent credits

Riot estimates roughly $5.5 billion of hard costs at Corsicana. That estimate includes 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.

Why the curtailment rule matters

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.

The new lease changes that operating choice at Corsicana by putting tenant approval around voluntary cuts. The disclosures do not quantify any curtailment income Riot might forgo under the lease.

Sources

• CryptoSlate

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