Bitcoin miner Riot stock jumps nearly 9% as activist Starboard urges AI data center expansion

AI Summary4 min read

TL;DR

Riot Platforms' stock surged nearly 9% after activist investor Starboard urged the company to accelerate its shift from bitcoin mining to AI infrastructure, citing potential for over $1.6 billion in annual EBITDA from its Texas power assets.

Key Takeaways

•Starboard Value is pushing Riot Platforms to pivot faster from bitcoin mining to AI and high-performance computing infrastructure to capitalize on higher margins.
•Riot's 1.7 gigawatts of power capacity in Texas could support premier data centers, potentially generating over $1.6 billion in annual EBITDA if monetized effectively.
•Despite a recent deal with AMD, Riot has lagged behind rivals in AI adoption, prompting Starboard to urge urgent action to reposition the company as a long-term AI infrastructure provider.
•Riot's shares have underperformed compared to other miners that transitioned earlier to AI strategies, highlighting the need for strategic change.
•The shift to AI infrastructure could diversify Riot's revenue by leveraging its power access to meet growing data center demand from AI models.

Racks of mining machines. — Riot Platforms shares rose nearly 7% after Starboard urged a faster pivot to AI hosting, citing $1.6B EBITDA potential from Texas power assets. (Michal Bednarek/Shutterstock)

What to know:

Activist investor Starboard Value is urging Riot Platforms to speed up its shift from bitcoin mining to higher-margin artificial intelligence and high-performance computing infrastructure.
Starboard argues that Riot’s 1.7 gigawatts of available power capacity at its Texas sites could support “premier” data centers and potentially generate more than $1.6 billion in annual EBITDA if effectively monetized.
Despite a recent AMD deal, Riot has lagged rivals that moved earlier into AI, prompting Starboard to press executives to act with urgency to reposition the company as a long-term AI infrastructure provider.

Activist investor Starboard Value is urging Riot Platforms to speed up its shift from bitcoin mining to higher-margin artificial intelligence and high-performance computing infrastructure.
Starboard argues that Riot’s 1.7 gigawatts of available power capacity at its Texas sites could support “premier” data centers and potentially generate more than $1.6 billion in annual EBITDA if effectively monetized.
Despite a recent AMD deal, Riot has lagged rivals that moved earlier into AI, prompting Starboard to press executives to act with urgency to reposition the company as a long-term AI infrastructure provider.

Shares of Riot Platforms (RIOT) rose nearly 9% Wednesday after activist investor Starboard Value LP released a letter pressing the company to accelerate its transition from bitcoin mining to AI infrastructure provider. The aim is for Riot to pursue high-margin artificial intelligence and high-performance computing (AI/HPC) hosting deals.

Riot’s 1.7 gigawatts of fully available power capacity make the company “well positioned to execute high-quality AI/HPC deals,” said Starboard, highlighting two of Riot’s Texas-based sites, Corsicana and Rockdale, as “premier” locations for data center development.

Starboard said that if Riot can monetize its power in line with recent transactions in the space, “it could generate more than $1.6 billion” in annual EBITDA. The group praised Riot’s recent deal with AMD, which is projected to yield $311 million over 10 years.

With a market cap of $4.25 billion, Texas-based Riot is the fifth-largest bitcoin mining company in the U.S. Its shares have risen by 19% in the past year, but remain lower by about 80% from highs hit during the 2021 bitcoin bull market. They've also underperformed miners like IREN, Cipher Mining, and Hut 8, which were quicker to recognize and transition to AI strategies.

Starboard was Riot’s fourth-largest shareholder as of the end of last year, and this isn't its first push on the company. In December 2024, Starboard requested that Riot convert some of its bitcoin mining sites into data centers capable of hosting HPC machines to support big tech companies.

While Riot Platforms has built its business around bitcoin mining, the pivot toward AI infrastructure could diversify revenue as power-hungry models like OpenAI’s GPT-4o and others drive data center demand. Riot’s power access, a rare commodity in the current energy-constrained data center market, could be used to lease capacity to major AI firms.

Starboard urged CEO Jason Les and Executive Chairman Benjamin Yi to act “with urgency” and position Riot as a long-term infrastructure provider for AI workloads.

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