Riot Platforms has leased the whole of its Corsicana, Texas, campus to an AI developer. The 15-year triple-net powered land lease covers 910 megawatts of critical IT capacity. Riot's third-quarter results release, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Nov. 4, 2026, puts the total contract value at about $28 billion over the initial term. The release called the tenant only "a leading Frontier AI Lab." The company's quarterly report on Form 10-Q, filed the same day, names it: Anthropic PBC.

According to the 10-Q, Riot subsidiary Riot Corsicana, LLC signed the lease on Oct. 28, 2026. It took effect on Nov. 4, after Riot's board approved it and third-party consultants approved the technical specifications. Yahoo Finance's Nov. 4 summary of the deal also reported the tenant as unnamed in the company's announcement.

CEO Jason Les called it the largest lease in Riot's history, according to the results release. The deal also changes what Riot is building at Corsicana. Under the structure described in the filings, Riot does not build a finished data center. It delivers land, power and "powered pads," and the tenant brings its own modular compute.

What Riot Is Providing, and What the Tenant Brings

The results release says the lease covers the entire Corsicana campus, a contiguous 332-acre parcel. The 10-Q places the Corsicana Facility in Navarro County, Texas. It describes the leased premises as land, powered pads and related infrastructure for 910 MW, delivered in three phases.

The release sets out the split of responsibilities. Riot delivers the land, the power infrastructure and the powered pads, and it keeps ownership and maintenance of the high- and medium-voltage infrastructure that serves them. The tenant will "procure, install, own, and operate the modular compute deployment on the powered pads." The tenant also bears substantially all operating costs, including power, which is passed through.

That arrangement is why Riot calls the deal a triple-net powered land lease rather than a conventional colocation or build-to-suit contract. In the release, Les said the Corsicana development "will require about half the capital of a Tier 3 build while significantly limiting procurement, development, and ongoing operational risk to Riot." He made the same point about capital intensity on the company's Nov. 4 earnings call, according to the Motley Fool transcript.

The Money: Rent, Escalators and Extensions

The 10-Q sets base rent at $130.0 per kilowatt per month, rising 3% a year. Riot's release puts the resulting figures at about $28 billion of total contract value and about $1.8 billion of average annual rent over the 15-year initial term, escalators included. The lease has two five-year extension options. The release says total contract value would reach about $54 billion if both are exercised.

Because the tenant carries operating costs, Riot estimates a net operating income margin of about 99%, or about $1.8 billion of average annual NOI over the initial term, according to the release. Management repeated the 99% figure on the earnings call.

Who Pays for the Build-Out

The release puts the total capital requirement at $6 million per IT megawatt, or $5.5 billion overall. It divides that cost into two parts:

  • Riot's share: $2 million per IT MW for site work and electrical infrastructure. The release says Riot expects to fund this from existing liquidity and does not currently expect to issue equity for it.
  • Tenant reimbursement: The remaining $4 million per IT MW is spent by the tenant, and Riot reimburses it in phases after each phase is delivered and paying rent. The 10-Q describes this as reimbursement of up to $4.0 million per MW of data center modules, subject to financing.

The release says the reimbursements are expected to be funded with non-recourse project debt sized to contracted rent. If financing on comparable market terms is not available, the tenant will fund the reimbursements itself and recover them as a credit against rent over the rest of the lease term. On the earnings call, management said it expects $6.1 billion to $7 billion of non-recourse project debt to fund development through mid-2028, according to the Motley Fool transcript.

Delivery Schedule

The release lists three deliveries: 400 MW in September 2027, 200 MW in January 2028 and 310 MW in July 2028. Rent on each phase begins no later than 60 days after its powered pads are delivered. Management gave the same schedule on the call.

Corsicana lease capacity by scheduled delivery
Corsicana lease capacity by scheduled deliverySeptember 2027: 400 MWSeptember 2027400 MWJanuary 2028: 200 MWJanuary 2028200 MWJuly 2028: 310 MWJuly 2028310 MW
Critical IT capacity in each delivery under Riot Platforms' 910-MW Corsicana lease, as scheduled by the company. Source: Riot Platforms Q3 2026 results release. DataCenterFeed graphic.

The 10-Q gives more detail on the first phase. Phase 1 consists of blocks 1 through 16, totaling 400 MW. The first block is targeted for June 28, 2027, and the full phase for Sept. 11, 2027.

Where Corsicana Fits in Riot's Portfolio

Riot has been moving from bitcoin mining toward leasing data center capacity. In the release, Les said that with the AMD contract and a lease signed earlier this year with the same Frontier AI Lab at Riot's Rockdale site, Riot has now contracted 1,151 MW and about $38 billion of data center revenue. He said the company expects that portfolio to generate more than $2 billion of average annual net operating income at full deployment.

On the call, management said the Rockdale lease is scheduled to deliver 96 MW in December 2027 and 95 MW in June 2028, and that 25 MW has already been delivered to AMD, according to the transcript.

The data center business is still small relative to these contracts. Riot reported third-quarter revenue of $181.4 million, including $18.4 million of data center revenue, and $950.2 million in cash and bitcoin, according to the results release. The release also says Riot has sold 20,264 bitcoin year-to-date for about $1.5 billion, primarily to fund data center development.

What Happens Next

The next scheduled step is the first powered block at Corsicana. According to the 10-Q, the first block of Phase 1 is targeted for June 28, 2027, and all 16 blocks of the 400-MW first phase are targeted for Sept. 11, 2027. Under the release, rent on that phase starts no later than 60 days after its powered pads are delivered. The remaining deliveries are 200 MW in January 2028 and 310 MW in July 2028.

Sources