Shares of Hut 8 (HUT +6.49%) climbed nearly 9% on Wednesday after the former cryptocurrency miner announced a partnership with Anthropic and a lucrative data center lease agreement.
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A shift to AI
After spinning off its Bitcoin-mining business earlier this year, Hut 8 is transitioning its business to high-performance energy infrastructure used in artificial intelligence (AI) factories. Those efforts received a boost today when Hut 8 struck a deal to help power Anthropic's rapid expansion.
Hut 8 will work with cloud platform operator Fluidstack to deliver at least 245 megawatts (MW) -- and as much as 2,295 MW -- of AI data center infrastructure to Anthropic at its River Bend campus in Louisiana.
"Hut 8's ability to source and deliver infrastructure at scale provides the runway necessary to continue advancing the capabilities of our models," Anthropic executive James Bradbury said in a press release.
NASDAQ: HUT
Key Data Points
Big-time backers
As part of this collaboration, Hut 8 signed a 15-year, $7 billion lease with Fluidstack at its River Bend data center campus. The company expects the deal to generate average annual net operating income of $454 million.
Interestingly, Alphabet's Google is providing a financial backstop covering the lease payments and related obligations. J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs are helping to finance the deal.
"River Bend reflects the strength of Hut 8's power-first, innovation-driven development model, validated by the world-class counterparties we are executing alongside," Hut 8 CEO Asher Genoot said.
