Riot identifies Anthropic as $28B lease tenant, may owe 12% interest

Anthropic, the company behind Claude, has been identified as the tenant in Riot Platforms' 15-year lease worth approximately $28 billion at the Corsicana, Texas campus. The bitcoin miner disclosed this in its quarterly report filed Wednesday, naming the previously unnamed "Frontier AI Lab" as Anthropic.

On the same day, Riot's earnings release referred to the tenant simply as a "leading Frontier AI Lab." However, the 10-Q filing provides more detail. A Riot subsidiary entered into the lease on Oct. 28 with Anthropic PBC (the "Frontier AI Lab"), and the agreement became effective on Nov. 4 following board approval and sign-off from external consultants on technical specifications.

The same defined term appears in the filing for the tenant of Riot's 191 MW Rockdale lease, which was signed in August. This means Anthropic is the counterparty on 1,101 MW of the 1,151 MW Riot has under contract. AMD accounts for the remaining 50 MW.

The Corsicana lease encompasses 910 MW of critical IT capacity. Base rent begins at $130 per kilowatt per month, increasing by 3% annually. At that rate, the entire 910 MW would generate approximately $1.42 billion per year. Riot estimates average annual rent at about $1.8 billion over the initial term, or roughly $54 billion in total if Anthropic exercises both five-year extension options.

Riot's 12% clause

The financing terms contain the details that are attracting attention. Riot has agreed to reimburse Anthropic up to $4 million per megawatt for the data center modules the tenant installs, which would amount to as much as $3.6 billion across the full 910 MW.

The reimbursement is contingent on Riot raising funds "on market terms reasonably acceptable to it." If such financing is not available, the 10-Q states that Riot will provide Anthropic with rent credits that amortize the amount "plus interest at 12% per year" over the remainder of the initial term.

Under that scenario, Anthropic would essentially finance the construction itself and recoup the cost through rent at a double-digit interest rate.

Riot's base case is different. The company plans to fund the reimbursements using non-recourse project debt sized to the contracted rent. It estimates the total capital needed at about $6 million per MW, or $5.5 billion. Riot has stated that it does not currently anticipate issuing equity for the project.

Deadlines and exits favor the tenant

The lease places most of the delivery risk on Riot. Capacity is delivered in three phases: 400 MW with a first block targeting June 28, 2027, 200 MW starting Dec. 24, 2027, and 310 MW on July 30, 2028.

If Riot is more than 60 days late in delivery, Anthropic receives escalating rent credits capped at 270 days of base rent for the undelivered blocks. Should a phase not be delivered within 270 days of its target, Anthropic can terminate the lease for that phase with 30 days' notice, with force majeure extensions allowed up to 365 days.

Riot is barred from curtailing Anthropic's power load or enrolling the site in voluntary demand response programs without permission, a significant restriction for a firm that built its mining operations partly by selling power back to the Texas grid. If a change of control involves certain restricted parties, Anthropic can terminate the lease or purchase Riot's interest in the premises at 95% of fair market value.

Riot's ability to terminate is limited to uncured payment defaults and bankruptcy events.

Less bitcoin on Riot's balance sheet

The data center construction is the reason Riot has been selling bitcoin throughout the year. In the first nine months of 2026, it sold 20,264 BTC for approximately $1.5 billion, beginning with 3,778 coins in the first quarter. By the end of September, it held 2,418 BTC worth $202 million.

The 10-Q also notes that Riot expects to "continue to sell substantially all of the bitcoin we mine" and does not anticipate accumulating significant bitcoin holdings in the near term.

This puts Riot on a different trajectory from miners like American Bitcoin, which reported a third-quarter profit this week primarily from gains on its bitcoin holdings. The current challenge for Riot is whether lenders will finance the Corsicana construction on terms that make the 12% clause merely a paper provision.