Hut 8 signs $9.8 billion AI data center lease
Former crypto company fully commercializes Texas campus.
Asher Genoot. By REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
- Hut 8 signed a $9.8 billion, 15-year AI data center lease for its Beacon Point campus in Texas.
- The deal fully commercializes the 1-gigawatt site and doubles the unnamed customer’s contracted capacity to 704 megawatts.
- Hut 8 has shifted from crypto mining to AI infrastructure as demand grows for power-ready data center sites.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
Hut 8, a crypto-mining turned AI data center company, said on Monday it has signed a second 15-year lease worth $9.8 billion with an existing investment-grade customer, fully commercializing its 1-gigawatt Beacon Point campus in Texas.
Shares of the company, which have nearly doubled this year, rose about 5% in premarket trading.
Like several former bitcoin miners, Hut 8 has pivoted toward AI infrastructure, seeking to leverage power assets and data center expertise developed during the cryptocurrency boom to serve AI customers.
Demand for compute infrastructure has accelerated since the launch of generative AI services, prompting technology companies to commit hundreds of billions of dollars toward data centers packed with advanced chips from Nvidia and others.
The rush has shifted competition beyond semiconductors to power, transmission access and construction-ready sites, making electricity availability one of the industry's biggest constraints.
The new agreement covers 352 megawatts of IT capacity and doubles the unnamed tenant's total contracted footprint at the site to 704 MW. Hut 8 said the campus now has a base-term contract value of $19.6 billion over 15 years, rising to as much as $50.2 billion if renewal options are exercised.
Total contracted AI data center capacity across Hut 8's portfolio has increased to 949 MW, backed by 1,330 MW of utility capacity, with aggregate base-term contract value reaching $26.6 billion, according to the company. All of the contracted capacity is leased to, or backed by, investment-grade counterparties.
Hut 8 said it redesigned the first data hall at Beacon Point around Nvidia's architecture, increasing capacity by 57% within the same land and utility footprint. The existing tenant subsequently doubled its contracted capacity at the campus.
Hut 8 expects to begin delivering the first Phase 2 data hall in the second quarter of 2028.
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