Riot Platforms, Inc. Common Stock 2026 Q2 Earnings Call

Good afternoon, and welcome to Riot Platforms' second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. My name is Josh Kane, Head of Investor Relations, and joining me on today's call from Riot are Jason Les, Chief Executive Officer, and Jason Chung, Chief Financial Officer. On the Riot Investor Relations website, you can find our second quarter 2026 earnings press release and accompanying earnings presentation, which are intended to supplement today's prepared remarks and which include a discussion of certain non-GAAP items. Non-GAAP financial measures provided should not be considered as a substitute for or superior to the measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP, and are included as additional clarifying items to aid investors in further understanding the company's second quarter 2026 performance. During today's call, we will make forward-looking statements regarding potential future events.

These statements are based on management's current expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could materially differ due to factors discussed in today's earnings press release, our comments and responses made during today's call, the Risk Factors section of our Form 10-K and Forms 10-Q, including for the three months ending June 30, 2026, which we expect to file later today, and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. With that, I will turn the call over to Jason Les, CEO of Riot Platforms.

Thank you, Josh, and good afternoon, everyone. The AI era has two binding constraints, power and execution. This quarter demonstrated Riot's answer to both. The second quarter of 2026 marked a decisive step forward in Riot's data center business and represents a clear validation of the assets, team, and strategy we have assembled. Following our first data center lease with AMD earlier this year, demand for large-scale power data center capacity has continued to accelerate, and we have taken a disciplined approach in response. The right transactions with the right partners on the right terms. I'm pleased to share our progress with you today. Four key accomplishments define this progress. First, at Rockdale, subsequent to quarter end, we executed a data center lease with one of the world's leading frontier AI labs for 191 megawatts of critical IT capacity. This is our second data center lease at Rockdale.

Our lease with the AI lab has a 20-year term and is expected to generate approximately $9.1 billion in total contract revenue, with two five-year extension options that, if exercised, would bring total contracted value to approximately $16.1 billion. Together with the AMD lease, Riot has now secured approximately $9.8 billion of contracted data center revenue with two leading companies in the AI ecosystem. Second, at Corsicana, interest in our 1 gigawatt of fully approved utility power has been substantial. From a broad field of prospective tenants, we have narrowed our focus and entered into a non-binding letter of intent with a single tenant for the entirety of the site, a transaction which we are engaged in advanced commercial and design discussions. A potential deal of this scale demands deep collaboration across design, commercial, and legal work streams, and that work is well underway.

In parallel, we continue to progress data center development at the site and critical path procurement of long lead time items to ensure delivery timelines and de-risk execution. Third, we continue to deliver on time for AMD as part of our growing partnership. We commissioned and delivered the final phase of the first 25 megawatts of capacity in May to AMD on time and on budget, with AMD operating on the site since January. Following AMD's exercise of its expansion option in April, its contracted capacity now stands at 50 megawatts of critical IT capacity at our Rockdale site, with the 25-megawatt expansion under construction, with first phase delivery later this year and full delivery scheduled for May 2027. Fourth, we secured the funding required for this growth. We continued the sale of Bitcoin from our balance sheet and our mining operations.

These proceeds remain our primary source of funding for operations and the equity component of our data center capital expenditures. We ended the quarter with $1.2 billion in total liquidity, consisting of $666 million in Bitcoin and $549 million in cash, giving our partners, tenants, lenders, and shareholders confidence in our ability to execute. If 2025 was the year of preparation, 2026 is the year of execution. In the last seven months, Riot has gone from zero contracted data center revenue to 241 megawatts of executed capacity with two of the highest quality counterparties in the AI ecosystem, AMD and now a leading frontier AI lab. Beyond that, the entire Corsicana campus is now under a non-binding LOI to a single tenant. This pace of execution is a direct result of the strategy, the assets, and the team we have spent the last two years putting in place.

The lease we are announcing today is contracted directly with one of the world's leading frontier AI labs for 191 megawatts of critical IT capacity at our Rockdale campus, and marks the beginning of what we expect to be a long and significant partnership. Under the lease, Riot is constructing a custom-built Tier III data center based on the tenant's latest design specifications, which has now been finalized. It will be built on land we announced the acquisition of earlier this year, which has already been cleared and graded using in-place power capacity under our active interconnection. Development work is already underway and we are currently targeting delivery for the first 96 megawatts with rent commencing in December 2027. The 20-year initial term runs from full deployment in June 2028 with annual escalations in base rent.

Beyond the initial term, the AI lab holds two 5-year extension options, which, if exercised, would bring total contract revenue to approximately $16.1 billion. Over the initial term, the lease is expected to generate approximately $9.1 billion in total contract revenue and an estimated $7.3 billion-$8.2 billion in net operating income, based on an estimated NOI margin range of 80%-90%. Illustrative capital expenditures are between $11 million and $12 million per IT megawatt. On financing, we have secured a $573 million interim financing facility from Morgan Stanley, which will cover initial development CapEx while the investment grade backstop is finalized. Jason Chung will discuss what this means for our financing strategy later on today's call.

Having a frontier partner of this caliber and trusting Riot with 191 megawatts of mission critical infrastructure on a 20-year commitment is a definitive validation of our team, our sites, and our ability to execute at the highest level. This is precisely the type of durable, high-quality contracted cash flow which we are building this platform to capture for our shareholders. Now, let's turn to slide 8 and our delivery schedule. Capacity under the AI lab lease will be delivered in two phases. Phase 1 delivers the first 96 megawatts of critical IT capacity in December 2027, a rapid timeline from signing to initial delivery. Phase 2 delivers the remaining capacity in June 2028, completing the full 191 megawatt deployment. We are on schedule for that initial delivery and execution has been meaningfully de-risked across several fronts. First, design. Our accelerated design strategy incorporates the tenant's basis of design, and the complete design and internal architecture have now been finalized, enabling procurement to have already begun.

Second, delivery partners. We have selected Yates Construction as our general contractor, a partner with direct development experience with this tenant, giving us increased visibility into cost and schedule. Third, vertical integration. ESS Metron and E4A are integrated into the delivery plan, accelerating substation development and reducing long lead equipment risk. Fourth, power. The required capacity is secured under our active interconnection and aligned with project milestones. Fifth, financing. The $573 million interim facility from Morgan Stanley allows us to fund long lead procurement immediately, protecting the delivery schedule while credit support is finalized.

Taken together, the combination of in-place power, advanced procurement, coordinated design, our in-house capabilities, and financing allows us to deliver at speed and with a high degree of certainty. That de-risked rapid execution is precisely what attracted this tenant to Riot and to Rockdale. Now let me turn to AMD, where our deployment progress remains on track. During the quarter, we completed delivery of the initial 25 megawatts of capacity on budget and on schedule. AMD has now commenced operations across this initial footprint, and Riot is generating recurring high margin operating lease revenue from an investment-grade tenant. On the second 25 megawatts, design is nearly complete and construction is underway with the initial 10 megawatts expected this November and the remaining 15 megawatts expected in May 2027.

As with the initial 25-megawatt deployment, ESS Metron's engineering and manufacturing capabilities are embedded in our delivery plan, supporting both schedule certainty and cost discipline. Beyond the contracted 50 megawatts, AMD retains expansion options for up to an additional 150 megawatts at Rockdale, providing a pathway to scaling this relationship to 200 megawatts over time. Slide 10 shows what Rockdale looks like today on a pro forma basis. In 2026, Riot has secured $9.8 billion of contracted data center revenue. With the leading frontier AI labs, 191 megawatts contracted alongside AMD's 50 megawatts Rockdale has evolved from a single-use Bitcoin mining site into a diversified data center campus, leased to two of the highest quality tenants in the AI ecosystem on long-term, high-margin contracts.

Looking at each lease at Rockdale in more detail, AMD will contribute approximately $63.6 million in average annual revenue and $51 million in average annual NOI on 50 megawatts, with total CapEx of $170.2 million and reaching full deployment in May 2027. The Frontier AI Lab lease will contribute approximately $457 million in average annual revenue and $365 million to $411 million in average annual NOI on illustrative CapEx of $2.1 billion to $2.3 billion, reaching full deployment in June 2028. Combined, the two executed leases represent $520 million in average annual revenue and $416 million to $462 million in average annual NOI across 241 megawatts. When we acquired the land underlying the Rockdale facility, we had a vision that it could become one of the country's premier data center development campuses. That vision is now being realized.