Hut 8 Shares Surge on $9.8 Billion AI Data Center Lease

Hut 8, a publicly listed Bitcoin mining company, saw its shares rise over 10% following the announcement of a second 15-year lease valued at $9.8 billion for its Beacon Point campus in Texas. The deal involves expanding the data center's capacity to 704 MW, with the base-term contract valued at $19.6 billion, potentially rising to $50.2 billion with renewal options. Hut 8's CEO, Asher Genoot, emphasized that the increased commitment from tenants validates their power-first approach. The company has been pivoting towards providing infrastructure for high-performance computing and AI, partnering with firms like Google-backed Anthropic and Fluidstack to develop up to 2.3 GW of AI data center capacity in the U.S. This move aligns with broader industry trends where Bitcoin miners diversify into AI infrastructure to adapt to declining Bitcoin prices and rising demand for AI compute resources.