Riot Platforms (RIOT) shares rose practically 9% on Wednesday after activist investor Starboard Worth LP launched a letter urging the corporate to speed up its transition from Bitcoin mining to AI infrastructure supplier. Riot’s goal is to pursue profitable synthetic intelligence and excessive efficiency computing (AI/HPC) internet hosting offers.
Starboard stated Riot’s 1.7 gigawatts of absolutely out there energy capability places the corporate “well-positioned to execute high-quality AI/HPC transactions,” and highlighted Riot’s two Texas-based places, Corsicana and Rockdale, as “premier” places for knowledge heart improvement.
Starboard stated if Riot can monetize its energy in step with current offers within the house, it “might generate greater than $1.6 billion” in annual EBITDA. The group praised Riot’s current take care of AMD, which is predicted to generate $311 million in income over 10 years.
Texas-based Riot, with a market capitalization of $4.25 billion, is the fifth largest Bitcoin mining firm in america. The corporate’s inventory worth has risen 19% over the previous yr, however stays about 80% beneath the highs reached in the course of the 2021 Bitcoin bull market. It additionally underperformed miners like IREN, Cipher Mining, and Hut 8, which acknowledged earlier and transitioned to AI methods.
Starboard was Riot’s fourth-largest shareholder on the finish of final yr, and this is not the primary time Starboard has put stress on the corporate. In December 2024, Starboard requested Riot to transform a few of its Bitcoin mining websites into knowledge facilities that might host HPC machines to help massive tech corporations.
Riot Platforms has constructed its enterprise round Bitcoin mining, however a pivot to AI infrastructure might diversify its income as power-hungry fashions resembling OpenAI’s GPT-4o drive demand for knowledge facilities. Riot’s energy entry, a uncommon commodity in at the moment’s energy-constrained knowledge heart market, could possibly be used to lease capability to massive AI corporations.
Starboard referred to as on CEO Jason Les and Govt Chairman Benjamin Yee to behave “with quick impact” and place Riot as a long-term infrastructure supplier for AI workloads.
