Shares of Riot Platforms (RIOT) experienced a notable 8% increase on Friday following the announcement of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) expanding its capacity at the Rockdale, Texas campus. This development underscores Riot's strategic pivot from bitcoin mining to artificial intelligence 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.

Furthermore, Riot has secured more favorable terms on 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 Riot's expanding data center business. The combination of the AMD deal and improved credit terms has led investors to pay a premium for the stock, with market analysts citing lower cost of capital driven by the expanded AMD partnership as a key factor. Riot was one of the last remaining 'pure play' mining companies that had not ventured into hosting AI computing, while its peers had begun to diversify by opening their data centers to AI computing.

Recently, activist investor Starboard urged the management to accelerate the transition from bitcoin mining to AI infrastructure provision. The 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 a total revenue of $167.2 million for the quarter ended March 31, representing a slight increase from $161.4 million in the same period last year, 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.

Despite this, the mining company's shares have surged approximately 147% over the last 12 months, while the value of bitcoin has decreased by nearly 17%. The company, which previously retained all its mined bitcoin, is now 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.