Riot Platform Pressed to Accelerate AI/HPC Transition as Shareholder Projects $9‑$21 B Value Upside
By [Your Name] – February 18 2026
Riot Platforms (NASDAQ: RIOT), one of the United States’ largest Bitcoin mining operators, is facing renewed pressure from activist investor Starboard Value to speed up its diversification into high‑performance computing (HPC) and artificial‑intelligence (AI) data‑center services. In a letter addressed to Riot’s chief executive and executive chairman on Wednesday, Starboard – which owns roughly 12.7 million shares of the company – outlined a valuation scenario that could add between $9 billion and $21 billion in equity value if Riot successfully monetises its remaining power capacity for AI/HPC workloads.
The shareholder’s case
- Untapped power – Riot still has about 1.4 GW of gross generation capacity that Starboard believes can be converted into revenue‑generating AI/HPC services.
- Location advantage – The firm’s flagship sites in Corsicana and Rockdale, Texas benefit from low electricity rates and a regulatory climate that has historically attracted crypto miners.
- Deal pipeline – Starboard cites a recently disclosed lease and services agreement with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) as an early proof‑of‑concept, but argues that the transaction is modest relative to the scale of the opportunity.
- Urgency – The activist stresses that “time is of the essence,” urging Riot to close “more material deals” and secure high‑quality, tier‑3 data‑center tenants on terms comparable to or better than peer transactions announced in late‑2025.
Market reaction
Riot’s shares rose sharply at the opening bell on Nasdaq, gaining almost 6 % before the close of the article’s publication window. By contrast, the broader Bitcoin mining sector, represented by the CoinShares Bitcoin Mining ETF, was largely unchanged, slipping less than 1 %. The divergence underscores investor optimism that Riot’s pivot could deliver a meaningful new revenue stream beyond its traditional proof‑of‑work operations.
Industry context: Mining firms eye AI/HPC
Riot’s strategic shift is part of a broader trend among crypto‑mining companies confronting tightening margins, rising network difficulty, and increasing regulatory scrutiny:
| Company | Recent AI/HPC Action |
|---|---|
| CleanSpark | Acquired Texas‑based renewable assets to fuel AI‑focused HPC workloads. |
| MARA Holdings | Announced a partnership to repurpose mining rigs for AI training. |
| Core Scientific | Launched a pilot data‑center offering AI‑compute services. |
| Hut 8 | Filed a plan to allocate a portion of its power budget to AI customers. |
| TeraWulf | Signed a lease with a cloud‑AI provider for excess electricity. |
| Cango | Sold $305 million of BTC holdings to fund AI/HPC expansion. |
These moves illustrate an emerging consensus that the next growth engine for mining firms may be the demand for cheap, carbon‑light compute power required by generative‑AI models and other data‑intensive workloads.
Analyst view
- Valuation upside is conditional – The $9‑$21 billion range assumes Riot can attract “high‑quality tenants” and negotiate lease terms at or above recent market benchmarks. Realising the upper end of that range would likely require multiple multi‑year contracts with Tier‑3 or Tier‑4 data‑center operators, a supply‑chain that is still nascent in Texas.
- Execution risk – Converting mining‑grade infrastructure to AI‑grade facilities involves not just electricity, but cooling, network latency, and compliance considerations. Riot’s ability to execute “with excellence and urgency,” as Starboard puts it, will be a key determinant of outcome.
- Competitive landscape – Rivals such as Core Scientific and CleanSpark are also courting AI tenants, potentially compressing rental rates. Riot will need to differentiate its assets—perhaps via strategic partnerships (e.g., AMD) or bundled services—to command premium pricing.
- Regulatory backdrop – Texas’ pro‑mining stance has softened as lawmakers look more closely at energy consumption. A pivot toward AI could mitigate some political risk, but the long‑term regulatory climate remains uncertain.
Key takeaways
- Starboard Value’s letter quantifies a potential $9‑$21 billion equity contribution from AI/HPC operations, hinging on the monetisation of Riot’s remaining 1.4 GW of capacity.
- Riot’s Texas sites—Corsicana and Rockdale—offer a cost‑efficient base for data‑center services, but the company must swiftly secureTenant contracts to meet the investor‑imposed timeline.
- The June‑2025 AMD lease is viewed as a pilot; a series of larger, longer‑term agreements will be required to approach the high‑end valuation scenario.
- The broader mining sector is repurposing assets for AI, indicating a structural shift that could reshape revenue models across the industry.
- Share price reaction (+~6 %) signals market confidence, yet actual value creation depends on execution, tenant quality, and the evolving regulatory environment.
Riot Platform’s next few quarters will be closely watched as the firm attempts to translate its power surplus into a scalable AI/HPC business, potentially redefining the role of cryptocurrency miners in the rapidly expanding compute economy.
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Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/riot-platform-ai-hpc-profit-stockholder?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound
