Hut 8 spent the better part of a decade answering to the name “bitcoin miner.” Now it is introducing itself as an energy infrastructure company that just signed a 15‑year, $7.0 billion AI data center lease in Louisiana—and is suddenly being invited to a very different set of cocktail parties. The River Bend campus deal, anchored by Anthropic and infrastructure partner Fluidstack, gives Hut 8 245 megawatts of AI capacity to develop and a narrative that no longer lives and dies on the price of Bitcoin.
Investors noticed: the stock jumped last week and is up roughly 80% on the year, suggesting Wall Street has discovered it likes recurring revenue almost as much as it likes memes about halving cycles.
Meet the New Landlord: Triple‑Net and Triple‑Checked
On paper, Hut 8’s transformation looks like a REIT’s dream journal. The company has locked in a triple‑net lease—tenant pays the taxes, insurance, and maintenance—for 245 MW of IT capacity that is expected to generate about $7 billion over the base term, with a 3% annual escalator. Strip out build costs and the CEO pegs the steady‑state contribution at roughly $450 million per year over 15 years, turning a once‑volatile miner into something that sounds suspiciously like a bond with GPUs attached.
Renewal options could extend the relationship for three additional five‑year terms and lift the total contract value to as much as $17.7 billion, assuming everyone still likes each other—and still likes AI—by the time today’s freshman analysts are running money.
Google Plays Banker, Not Just Search Bar
The secret sauce in this sprawling arrangement is not just the megawatts; it is the balance sheet doing the heavy lifting. Alphabet’s Google (GOOG) is providing a financial backstop on the lease obligations, a feature Hut 8’s CEO cheerfully credits as the key that unlocked up to 85% project financing from JP Morgan (JPM) and Goldman Sachs (GS). In other words, Google is effectively vouching for the rent, allowing the banks to treat the data center more like infrastructure and less like a speculative crypto side hustle.
Anthropic, the AI model developer, and Fluidstack, the infrastructure partner, round out the cast, turning River Bend into a showcase of how cloud giants, AI labs, and power‑rich operators now collaborate to secure the scarce raw materials of the AI age: electricity, cooling, and zoning approvals. Somewhere, a traditional office landlord is staring at a half‑empty tower and wondering why it does not come with a Google guarantee.
From Hash Rate to Gigawatts
For Hut 8, the Louisiana deal is not a one‑off stunt; it is a cornerstone in a development pipeline that now totals about 8.65 gigawatts of potential power across projects in various stages of maturity. The partnership with Anthropic contemplates eventual expansion to as much as 2.3 gigawatts of AI capacity, assuming subsequent phases at River Bend and other sites come to life.
This retooling echoes a broader migration in the sector as ex‑miners repurpose their greatest asset: access to high‑voltage power and industrial‑scale infrastructure. Where once those electrons powered hash rate charts, they are increasingly being redirected to feed power‑hungry Nvidia‑laden (NVDA) clusters training language models that sometimes even spell “Louisiana” correctly on the first try.
The Punch Line: Stability, With a Volatility Footnote
The bullish case practically writes itself: a long‑dated, Google‑backstopped lease; institutional‑grade counterparties in Entergy, JP Morgan, and Goldman; and a growing queue of AI tenants desperate for megawatts in a constrained grid. Hut 8 still carries some bitcoin sensitivity on its books, but the company is steadily recasting itself as an AI landlord with visibility into net operating income that would make a traditional miner blush.
Of course, 245 megawatts of AI capacity do not build themselves. Execution risk, cost inflation, permitting delays, and cyclical sentiment around both AI and crypto could still test investors’ patience long before the first servers hum in early 2027. For now, though, Wall Street appears happy to trade block rewards for base rent—and to discover that in the AI era, the real winners may be the ones who own the metaphorical picks, shovels, and substations.
Sources
[1] Hut 8 shares jump as ex-bitcoin miner signs $7 billion AI data center … https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hut-8-shares-jump-ex-123347104.html
[2] Bitcoin Miner Hut 8 Signs $7B Louisiana AI Data Center Lease – Bitbo https://bitbo.io/news/hut-8-ai-data-center-lease/
[3] Hut 8 Signs 15-Year, 245 MW AI Data Center Lease at River Bend … https://www.hut8.com/news-insights/press-releases/hut-8-signs-15-year-245-mw-ai-data-center-lease-at-river-bend-campus
[4] Hut 8 shares soar as data center firm inks $7 billion revenue deal … https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hut-8-shares-soar-data-132342622.html
[5] Hut 8 CEO explains Google’s vital role in AI data center deal https://finance.yahoo.com/video/hut-8-ceo-explains-googles-174500593.html
[6] Hut 8 Secures $7B AI Data Center Lease With Fluidstack https://seekingalpha.com/article/4854124-hut8-secures-7b-ai-data-center-lease-with-fluidstack-what-investors-need-to-know
[7] Hut 8 Signs 15-Year, 245 MW AI Data Center Lease at River Bend … https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hut-8-signs-15-year-245-mw-ai-data-center-lease-at-river-bend-campus-with-total-contract-value-of-7-0-billion-302644600.html
[8] Hut 8 CEO says $7 billion data center deal with Google is ‘first … https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hut-8-ceo-says-7-billion-data-center-deal-with-google-is-first-domino-to-fall-183115394.html
[9] Hut 8 stock soars after securing $7 billion data center lease with … https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/hut-8-stock-soars-after-securing-7-billion-data-center-lease-with-google-93CH-4412815
[10] Hut 8 shares jump as ex-bitcoin miner signs $7 billion AI data … https://whbl.com/2025/12/17/hut-8-shares-jump-as-ex-bitcoin-miner-signs-7-billion-ai-data-center-lease/
[11] Google-backed deal expands hut 8 data centers with 245MW River … https://www.mexc.com/en-NG/news/290407
[12] Hut 8 (HUT) Is Down 14.1% After $7 Billion AI Lease With Fluidstack … https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hut-8-hut-down-14-153950753.html
[13] Will Hut 8’s AI Pivot Reverse Its Stock Slump for Good? https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-family-hut-8-ai-190902547.html
[14] Hut 8 Signs 15-Year, 245 MW AI Data Center Lease at River Bend … https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hut-8-signs-15-245-111500609.html
[15] What it takes to construct an AI data center, Hut 8 CEO outlines https://finance.yahoo.com/video/takes-construct-ai-data-center-195000538.html
[16] Hut 8 shares jump as ex-bitcoin miner signs $7 billion AI data center … https://www.webull.com/news/14042229889975296
[17] Hut 8 Corp. (HUT) Discusses AI Infrastructure Partnership and Major … https://seekingalpha.com/article/4854148-hut-8-corp-hut-discusses-ai-infrastructure-partnership-and-major-data-center-lease-with
[18] Hut 8 signs $7 billion lease for West Feliciana Parish data center https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hut-8-signs-7-billion-153210460.html
[19] Hut 8 Surges As Ex-Bitcoin Miner Gets Anthropic Deal, Google … https://www.investors.com/news/hut-8-stock-bitcoin-miner-anthropic-deal-google-backstop/
[20] Hut 8 price target boosted at Cantor and Canaccord after Google … https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hut-8-price-target-boosted-124631502.html
