Anthropic signs $9 billion deal for 191 megawatts with Riot Blockchain

Anthropic has announced a $9 billion agreement with Bitcoin miner Riot to secure 191 megawatts of power from Riot’s Rockdale campus in Texas. The deal will give the AI startup a steady source of electricity for training its large language models. Riot will use the contract to monetize idle capacity that it currently generates while mining bitcoin. The two firms will begin the arrangement in the next few months, with Anthropic planning to use the power for new model training runs.

The partnership reflects a growing trend of AI companies buying power from cryptocurrency miners. AI training is energy‑intensive and costly. Companies like Anthropic need millions of hours of GPU time, which can cost billions in electricity. Bitcoin mining operations, meanwhile, often produce excess power that would otherwise sit unused. By buying this capacity, Anthropic can lower its training costs and reduce its carbon footprint. Riot, on the other hand, gains a reliable revenue stream that offsets the volatility of bitcoin prices.

The contract covers 191 MW of power, a substantial portion of the 1,300 MW that Riot’s Texas plant can supply. At $9 billion, the price works out to roughly $47 million per megawatt. The deal will be phased in over several years, with Anthropic taking over a portion of the plant’s output each quarter. The contract also includes clauses that allow for renewable energy sourcing, which may help both companies meet sustainability targets. The deal could push Texas to become a hub for AI training, drawing in other firms that need large compute blocks.

Following the announcement, Anthropic plans to start training its next generation of models at the new power site. Riot will use the contract to stabilize its earnings and potentially invest in expanding its data‑center footprint. The agreement could prompt other AI firms to look to crypto miners for power, reshaping the energy landscape for both industries. If the partnership proves successful, it may encourage more cross‑sector deals that turn idle mining power into a resource for AI research.