Shares of Riot Platforms (RIOT) experienced an 8% surge on Friday following the announcement that Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) would be expanding its capacity at Riot's Rockdale, Texas campus. This development highlights Riot's ongoing pivot from bitcoin mining towards artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing.
According to the company's Q1 financial results, AMD has exercised an option to double its contracted capacity to 50 megawatts (MW), with potential upsizing to 150MW. The agreement is anticipated to generate approximately $636 million over a 10-year term. Additionally, Riot has secured more favorable terms for its $200 million bitcoin-backed credit facility with Coinbase, reducing the interest rate to a fixed 6.15% from 8.3% and releasing 1,544 pledged collateral bitcoins.
This move signals growing lender confidence in the company's expanding data center business. The combined impact of the AMD deal and improved credit terms has led investors to pay a premium for the stock, with market pricing reflecting a lower cost of capital driven by the expanded AMD deal and increased lender confidence.
Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at VanEck, noted that 'market pricing in lower cost of capital as the expanded AMD deal drives lender confidence.' Riot was one of the last remaining 'pure play' mining companies that hadn't ventured into hosting AI computing, while its peers opened their data centers to diversify away from mining. Recently, activist investor Starboard urged the management to accelerate its transition from bitcoin mining to an AI infrastructure provider.
The strategic expansion of its data center business to host AI computers appears to be yielding positive results for the Castle Rock, Colorado-based company. The firm reported total revenue of $167.2 million for the quarter ended March 31, up from $161.4 million a year earlier, supported by $33.2 million in initial data center revenue. However, revenue from bitcoin mining declined to $111.9 million from $142.9 million, primarily due to lower bitcoin prices and increased mining competition. Over the last 12 months, the company's shares have risen by approximately 147%, while bitcoin prices have fallen by nearly 17%.
Riot, which previously retained all its mined bitcoin, is also accelerating its bitcoin sales. According to Bitcoin Treasuries data, the company sold 3,688 BTC during Q1, ending March with 15,679 BTC and $282.5 million in cash.