Riot says it leased full Corsicana campus to unnamed AI lab

By Daniel Rowe, Policy Correspondent (Policy, Law & Geopolitics)

Riot Platforms said on November 4, 2026 that it has signed a 15‑year triple‑net powered land lease for its entire Corsicana, Texas, campus with an unnamed “leading Frontier AI Lab,” covering 910MW of critical IT capacity and representing approximately $28 billion in total contract value over the initial term.Riot Platforms1

The announcement marks what Riot calls the largest lease in its history and, if completed as described, would shift a large share of its future cash flows toward long‑term data center rent tied to a single AI computing tenant.Riot Platforms1

Unnamed tenant, projected $28bn contract value

Riot said it “has signed a 15‑year triple‑net powered land lease with a leading Frontier AI Lab for the entirety of the Company’s Corsicana campus, covering 910 MW of critical IT capacity on a contiguous 332‑acre parcel.”Riot Platforms1

The tenant is not identified in the release, which refers only to a “leading Frontier AI Lab” and does not attach the lease itself or other contractual exhibits.Riot Platforms1 All figures on contract value, rent and margins are Riot’s projections and have not been independently verified.

According to Riot, the Corsicana lease carries “approximately $28 billion of total contract value and approximately $1.8 billion of average annual rent, including contractual escalators,” rising to about $54 billion if both five‑year extension options are exercised.Riot Platforms1 Rent is “payable on the full 910 MW irrespective of utilization,” and the company estimates a net operating income margin of approximately 99 percent under the triple‑net structure, or about $1.8 billion of average annual net operating income over the initial term.Riot Platforms1

Phased delivery and capital structure

Riot outlined a three‑phase delivery schedule for the Corsicana capacity: 400MW in September 2027, 200MW in January 2028 and 310MW in July 2028, with rent on each phase commencing “no later than 60 days after delivery of its powered pads.”Riot Platforms1

The company put total capital costs for the Corsicana development at $6 million per IT megawatt, or $5.5 billion overall, which it described as “approximately half the capital intensity of a typical Tier 3 build,” implying an unlevered yield on cost of approximately 33 percent.Riot Platforms1

Under the structure described in the release, Riot “delivers the land, the power infrastructure, and the powered pads,” and will “continue to own and maintain the high‑ and medium‑voltage infrastructure” serving the site, while the tenant will “procure, install, own, and operate the modular compute deployment on the powered pads” and “bear substantially all operating costs, including power costs as a pass‑through.”Riot Platforms1

Riot said it will fund $2 million per IT megawatt for site work and electrical infrastructure, with the remaining $4 million per IT megawatt to be reimbursed to the tenant in phases “after each phase is delivered and paying rent.” These reimbursements are “expected to be funded with non‑recourse project debt sized to contracted rent,” and “if financing on comparable market terms is not available, the tenant will directly fund the reimbursements, which will be recovered as a credit against rent over the remaining lease term.” Riot stated that its cash contribution “is expected to be funded from existing liquidity, with no requirement to issue equity currently anticipated.”Riot Platforms1

The release does not describe specific penalties, remedies or adjustment mechanisms if the Corsicana project is delayed or delivered at a different schedule, and Riot’s related Form 10‑Q was not retrieved under the research policy.SEC exhibit of Riot release2

Part of broader shift toward data center leases

Riot’s chief executive, Jason Les, called the Corsicana agreement “the largest lease in Riot’s history” and said that, together with the company’s contract with AMD and “the lease signed with the same Frontier AI Lab at Rockdale earlier this year,” the company “has contracted 1,151 megawatts and approximately $38 billion of data center revenue.” He added that Riot expects this portfolio “will generate more than $2 billion of average annual net operating income at full deployment.”Riot Platforms1 The identity of the Rockdale tenant is not disclosed.

In its third‑quarter 2026 results, Riot reported total revenue of $181.4 million, including $18.4 million of data center revenue, which it said reflected “the first full quarter of the stabilized 25 MW delivered to AMD,” $116.0 million of bitcoin mining revenue and $47.0 million of engineering revenue.Riot Platforms1 Corsicana has not been built and does not contribute to these figures.

Riot also reported that it ended the quarter with $950.2 million in cash and bitcoin, that it had sold 20,264 bitcoin during the first nine months of 2026 for approximately $1.5 billion primarily to fund data center development, and that it had “no equity raised in 2026.”Riot Platforms1 The company’s projections for Corsicana and its other leases are forward‑looking statements subject to the risks and uncertainties described in the same release and in its SEC filings.