Riot (RIOT) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

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DATE

April 30, 2026 at 4:30 p.m. ET

CALL PARTICIPANTS

• Chief Executive Officer — Jason Les
• Chief Financial Officer — Jason Chung
• Head of Investor Relations — Joshua Kane

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TAKEAWAYS

• Total Revenue -- $167 million reported, with first data center lease revenues from AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) now included in the top line.
• GAAP Net Loss -- $500 million, or $1.44 per diluted share, driven by $326.7 million in non-cash mark-to-market losses on Bitcoin and $97.7 million in non-cash D&A expense.
• Adjusted EBITDA Loss -- $311 million, with non-cash factors as the primary driver of negative figure.
• Bitcoin Production -- 1,473 Bitcoin mined; period-end deployed hash rate of 42.5 exahash.
• Direct Mining Power Cost -- $0.03 per kilowatt-hour after $21 million in power curtailment credits.
• Cost to Mine -- Direct cost per Bitcoin mined was $44,629, reflecting a 26% decrease from the prior year.
• Bitcoin Holdings -- 15,679 Bitcoin on the balance sheet valued at $1.1 billion at period end.
• AMD Data Center Lease Expansion -- AMD exercised a 25 megawatt option, bringing total contracted capacity at Rockdale to 50 megawatts.
• Data Center Segment Revenue -- $33.2 million total; $900,000 from lease revenue (91% gross margin) and $32.2 million from tenant fit-out services (5% gross margin).
• AMD Lease Economics -- 10-year primary term brings $636 million total contract revenue and projected average annual NOI of $51 million from the 50 megawatt lease footprint.
• AMD Expansion CapEx -- $3.3 million per megawatt for 25 megawatt phase (total $83.2 million), down from $3.6 million per megawatt on the initial 25 megawatts, reflecting efficiency from prior build preparation.
• Operating Lease Revenue Run Rate -- Expected to reach $37.8 million upon exiting 2026 and $55.6 million after full AMD 50 megawatt delivery in 2027.
• Corsicana Campus Design Revision -- New standard: 168 megawatt core-and-shell data center, up from previous 112 megawatts on the same capital spend, improving capital efficiency.
• Total Planned Campus Capacity -- Corsicana now projected at 756 megawatts, an increase enabled by design enhancements utilizing the existing site, power, and timeline.
• Engineering Backlog -- $193.4 million, with around 90% attributed to data center sector demand.
• Data Center Procurement Progress -- All major substation equipment for Corsicana core-and-shell has been secured; general contractor mobilized for project execution.
• Data Center Segment Operating Path -- Revenue mix will shift toward high-margin recurring lease revenue as tenant capacity comes online, supporting margin expansion.
• Financing Strategy -- Growth funded through Bitcoin sales and cash flow; no equity issuance in the quarter; nonrecourse project finance targeted with loan-to-cost ratios of 80% for the AMD lease.
• Vertical Integration Savings -- ESS Metron contributed $24 million in cumulative CapEx savings since 2021 acquisition; ongoing 25% capacity expansion planned for 2026.
• New Data Center Leadership -- Hires include Adam Black, formerly of TA Digital Group, Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL), and Meta (NASDAQ: META), as head of design and construction, and Ria Williams as SVP of AI and Hyperscale Sales.
• Secured Power Portfolio -- 2 gigawatts of fully approved utility power, including 1.7 gigawatts at Rockdale and Corsicana, underpins development pipeline.
• Pipeline Growth Initiatives -- Over 100 opportunities evaluated across greenfield, brownfield, self-generation, M&A, and partnerships to expand access to power and future capacity.
• AMD Option Structure -- AMD now holds an additional 50 megawatt expansion option plus a second 100 megawatt option, conditional on full use of the first, enabling potential total of 200 megawatt contracted capacity at Rockdale pending new development.
• Commercial Leasing Update -- Active leasing discussions ongoing at both Corsicana and Rockdale; "no gating items" cited, and high-quality tenants prioritized for lease execution.

SUMMARY

The quarter marked Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:RIOT)’s emergence as an institutional-scale data center operator, with new lease revenue from AMD and ongoing investment in site capacity, technology, and leadership to support hyperscale client demands. Management disclosed that completely self-funded development through disciplined Bitcoin sales and operating cash flow has enabled growth without share dilution. Major design refinements at Corsicana and the AMD contract expansion have increased planned capacity and improved development yield on existing infrastructure. Strategic prioritization of high-credit tenants is shaping ongoing and future lease activity, aided by new commercial and technical leadership. The vertical integration of engineering continues to provide measurable cost advantages and schedule certainty as Riot Platforms scales its platform.

• CEO Les said, "we are not stopping here. We recognize that market demand for power is strong, and we are aggressively pursuing growth in our power portfolio across four distinct avenues."
• Management stated, "We have not seen any deals signed by peers at that scale" in reference to Corsicana’s full-campus single-tenant discussions, emphasizing Riot Platforms' market positioning.
• CFO Chung specified, "we are not looking to push all of our future growth through a single financing channel," outlining a multi-instrumental approach to capital structure as the platform expands.
• The Engineering segment's $193.4 million backlog includes 90% data center-driven orders, indicating strong sector-level demand visibility.
• CEO Les confirmed, "We have the right people in the right seats" and linked ongoing delivery for AMD to the newly bolstered team structure.
• Secured substation and backup equipment, plus vertically integrated switchgear capacity, are positioned to meet accelerated build timelines and market responsiveness goals.

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

• Critical IT capacity: The power, measured in megawatts, dedicated to serve computing infrastructure within a data center, directly supporting customer IT workloads.
• NOI (Net Operating Income): Annual profit from rental properties or lease assets after operating expenses, before debt service or taxes, referenced here for contracted data center leases.
• Power curtailment credits: Payments or credits received for reducing electricity consumption at times of grid stress, lowering effective power costs for large users.
• Hash rate: The aggregate computational power, measured in exahash, available for Bitcoin mining activities across all deployed mining machines.
• Tenant fit-out services: Revenue from procurement, installation, and customization of specialized IT or infrastructure equipment for data center customers, typically on a cost-plus reimbursement basis.
• Core-and-shell: The foundational structure of a data center building, excluding interior IT-specific systems or customer fit-outs, providing flexibility for tailored deployments.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Operator: Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Riot Platforms, Inc. First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. Please note that all participants have been placed in a listen-only mode until the question-and-answer session begins following the company's presentation of its prepared remarks. Please also be advised that today's call is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to Joshua Kane, Head of Investor Relations at Riot Platforms, Inc. Please go ahead. Thank you, operator.

Joshua Kane: Good afternoon, and welcome to Riot Platforms, Inc. First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Josh Kane, Head of Investor Relations. Joining me on today's call from Riot Platforms, Inc. are Jason Les, Chief Executive Officer, and Jason Chung, Chief Financial Officer. On the Riot Platforms, Inc. Investor Relations website, you can find our first quarter 2026 earnings press release and accompanying earnings presentation, which are intended to supplement today's prepared remarks and include a discussion of certain non-GAAP items.

Non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered as a substitute for or superior to measures prepared in accordance with GAAP and are included as additional clarifying items to aid investors in further understanding the company's first quarter 2026 performance. During today's call, we will be making 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, comments and responses made during today's call, and in the Risk Factors section of our Forms 10-K and 10-Q, including for the three months ended 03/31/2026, which will be filed later today, as well as other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. With that, I will turn the call over to Jason Les.

Jason Les: Thank you, Josh, and good afternoon, everyone. 2026 was a definitive inflection point in Riot Platforms, Inc. transition into one of the most significant and capable data center operators in the industry. Looking at our key milestones for the quarter: First, AMD officially exercised a 25 megawatt expansion option, bringing their total contracted footprint at our Rockdale facility to 50 megawatts, validating our ability to execute at institutional scale. Initial data center capacity for this expansion will be delivered beginning in November. Second, on the initial 25 megawatt AMD lease, we delivered the first 5 megawatts of critical IT capacity right on schedule in January, with the remaining 20 megawatts on track for delivery this May.

Third, we continue to make significant progress at our Corsicana facility. We have initiated development of our first core-and-shell building using our enhanced 168 megawatt standard design, which efficiently consolidates our previous two-building design and will be connected by expanded administrative capacity. Concurrently, we are securing long-lead items to ensure timely delivery of full built-to-suit capacity after the core-and-shell is complete. Finally, we achieved this infrastructure growth while maintaining strong capital discipline, proactively funding our data center initiatives entirely through operating cash flow and disciplined Bitcoin sales, allowing us to execute on these key growth initiatives without issuing a single share of equity. Let us dive into the AMD expansion.

When we announced the initial AMD lease in January, we signed a 10-year agreement to deliver 25 megawatts of critical IT capacity at our Rockdale facility with extension options that created a partnership pathway of up to 25 years. That original lease included a 75 megawatt expansion option and a right of first refusal on an additional 100 megawatts. More recently, our partnership with AMD has expanded as they worked with our team to exercise an additional 25 megawatts of their expansion option capacity. AMD now has 50 megawatts of critical IT capacity under contract with Riot Platforms, Inc. at the Rockdale facility.

This expansion reflects AMD's ongoing confidence in our ability to deliver and is a clear indicator that we are delivering exactly as promised—on time and on budget. To summarize the economics of our expanded AMD lease today, we are delivering an additional 25 megawatts of critical IT capacity, bringing the total lease to 50 megawatts. Total revenue of $636 million during the primary 10-year period, $51 million in average annual NOI over the course of the contract, which, when combined with the reduced CapEx spend, will drive an even more attractive development yield relative to the initial AMD lease.

The total CapEx required for the expansion is approximately $3.3 million per megawatt, totaling $83.2 million, a significant reduction from the initial 25 megawatt CapEx of $3.6 million per megawatt, driven by a leaner build-out scope following building preparation in the initial phase. Slide 8 presents a clear visual of how this expansion is taking shape at our Rockdale facility. On the top half of the slide, you can see the physical layout of Buildings F and G. We are finalizing the initial 25 megawatts of capacity for AMD, highlighted in yellow. We are already delivering 5 megawatts for AMD, with the remaining 20 megawatts firmly on schedule for full delivery next month in May 2026.

AMD's 25 megawatt expansion will be developed directly adjacent to the initial footprint in Building G and will be constructed in two phases. Phase three, highlighted in blue, will deliver 10 megawatts in November 2026, while phase four, highlighted in orange, represents the remaining 15 megawatts for delivery in May 2027. As a result of this phased delivery, we anticipate exiting 2026 with an annualized operating lease revenue run rate of $37.8 million, scaling to a run rate of $55.6 million as we exit 2027 and AMD's full 50 megawatt footprint comes online. Importantly, this provides a highly visible, high-margin baseline that has the potential to scale up even further if AMD exercises its remaining expansion options.

You can see the physical footprint of those additional options mapped out in green on the site plan. AMD retains an additional 50 megawatt expansion option and now holds an additional 100 megawatt option, which replaces their prior right of first refusal. Together, this provides a highly visible, de-risked pathway to potentially scale our partnership with AMD to up to 200 megawatts of critical IT capacity at Rockdale. Now I want to provide an update on the development activity underway at our Corsicana campus. As a reminder, at the end of last year, we announced our plan to initiate core-and-shell development at Corsicana. I am pleased to report development is actively underway and tracking on schedule.

This marks the transition of Corsicana from a site with approved power into an active data center development site. Since that announcement, our team has refined our standard basis of design based on market engagement and feedback. The result is a meaningful enhancement to both the density and the flexibility of what we can deliver. Our updated standard is a 168 megawatt critical IT building engineered to support densities beyond 1,000 watts per square foot. The design is configurable as a two-story standard or a single-story high-density format with oversized galleries to accept 100% liquid cooling and the densest next-generation equipment without retrofit. We are using prefabricated skids and vendor-agnostic equipment specifications to further compress our schedule and de-risk procurement.

This is a design built for repeatability, speed to market, and the requirements of the most sophisticated AI and HPC tenants in the market today. Reflecting this enhancement, we have consolidated the two buildings we previously announced into a single larger building with 168 megawatts of critical IT capacity, up from the 112 megawatts we originally planned across two buildings. The core-and-shell CapEx is unchanged from our prior guidance, which means we are now delivering 50% more critical IT capacity for the same capital spend. This meaningfully improves our capital efficiency at the core-and-shell level. Development is underway today, and we have a clear line of sight to 168 megawatts of completed core-and-shell in 2027.

Applying the updated design across the full Corsicana site, our total planned campus capacity now stands at 756 megawatts of critical IT capacity—an increase over our prior plan on the same approved power, the same land, and the same development timeline. Put simply, we are extracting more capacity and more value from the infrastructure we have already secured, and we are doing so on a timeline that matches the urgency of today's market. Now I would like to turn it over to Jason Chung to outline our financing strategy and review the quarterly financial results.

Jason Chung: Thank you, Jason. Turning to how we are funding this growth on Slide 11, there are four primary principles that guide our approach to finance. First, we carefully manage our current liquidity. This involves the strategic management of cash and Bitcoin holdings to finance initial equity requirements for data center development. Second, we seek to broaden capital availability. By leveraging the credit profiles of our tenants and our highly visible long-term contracted cash flows, we are establishing new institutional financing and capital sources for Riot Platforms, Inc. Third, we look to systematically lower our cost of capital. As our asset base matures, we are able to translate these strong credit characteristics and funding profiles into accretive, low-cost capital.

Fourth, we maintain prudent ongoing balance sheet management. This requires active debt management throughout market cycles in order to cleanly recycle capital, preserve our liquidity profile, and support long-term growth. Slide 12 illustrates how these principles work in practice. Our funding strategy utilizes a sequential capital cycle to fund our data center development. In phase one, initial development funding, we use our balance sheet to advance development, as seen with the initial 25 megawatt AMD deployment, the just-announced additional 25 megawatt AMD option, and the core-and-shell development at Corsicana. During the quarter, we funded this CapEx through a disciplined sale of a portion of our Bitcoin holdings, the most capital-efficient source of funding currently available to us.

Importantly, we did not issue any common equity during the quarter. Instead, we leveraged our Bitcoin treasury and our operating cash flows to fund this development. In phase two, tenant-backed project financing, we are actively engaging with multiple institutional lenders on project-level nonrecourse financing structures for the AMD lease. The quality of the AMD lease as a long-term, high-margin lease with an investment-grade leader in the AI ecosystem makes this the type of asset that project finance markets are designed to finance efficiently. We continue to target attractive loan-to-cost ratios in the range of 80% in these structures.

Once we close funding, we will be in a position to recover a substantial portion of the equity we deployed into this first set of projects. Phase three is the capital recycling phase, where equity recovered from either a true-up during the construction period, as in our AMD discussions, or from refinancing proceeds on completed, stabilized assets flows directly back into the next wave of data center development. The cycle is to lease, finance, build, and recycle. As we compound through this cycle, we retain ownership of high-quality, cash-flowing assets while continuously redeploying capital to finance additional growth. Let us move on to the first quarter financial update on Slide 14.

For the first quarter of 2026, Riot Platforms, Inc. reported total revenue of $167 million. Notably, with the delivery of our first 5 megawatts to AMD this quarter, Riot Platforms, Inc. is now an active data center operator, and for the first time, our top line includes contracted lease revenue from an investment-grade tenant. We recorded a GAAP net loss of $500 million, or $1.44 per diluted share, and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $311 million. This loss was driven by non-cash mark-to-market accounting adjustments on our Bitcoin holdings of $326.7 million and non-cash depreciation and amortization expense of $97.7 million, which do not reflect the underlying strong fundamental economics of our operations.

Diving into these operations, our Bitcoin mining segment performance remained robust. Riot Platforms, Inc. produced 1,473 Bitcoin in the first quarter and ended the quarter with a deployed hash rate of 42.5 exahash. We generated $21 million in power curtailment credits, driving our net cost of power down to $0.03 per kilowatt-hour, thereby lowering our direct cost to mine Bitcoin to $44,629 per Bitcoin, a 26% reduction compared to 2025. In our newly added data center segment, we successfully exited the quarter with 5 megawatts of critical IT capacity fully online and generated $33.2 million in total revenue, consisting of $900,000 in operating lease revenue and $32.2 million in tenant fit-out services revenue.

Finally, we ended the quarter holding 15,679 Bitcoin on our balance sheet, valued at approximately $1.1 billion, which we will continue to leverage in order to finance the ongoing development of our data center business. Turning to Slide 15, I am proud to present the inaugural financial results of our data center segment. In the first quarter, this segment generated $33.2 million in total revenue. As we introduce this new reporting line, it is important to understand the composition of this revenue and how it will evolve as our footprint scales. The majority of our first quarter revenue—$32.2 million—was driven by tenant fit-out services.

This represents the procurement and installation of customer-specific equipment, which is reimbursed by tenants on a cost-plus basis. While this revenue naturally carries a lower margin, it requires no capital risk from Riot Platforms, Inc. and accelerates our tenants' ultimate speed to market. The fundamental value of this segment, however, is reflected in the operating lease income. We recognized roughly $900,000 in recurring lease revenue, driven by the initial 5 megawatt delivery to AMD in January, which generated a 91% gross margin this quarter. As AMD scales its operations, we expect associated operations and maintenance costs to increase, which will normalize this margin towards our previously stated run-rate target of 80% plus.

As we look ahead, you will see a natural evolution in this revenue mix. While tenant fit-out revenue is elevated today during the development phase, as the remaining megawatts for AMD come fully online, our high-margin operating lease revenue will scale dramatically. This will layer highly predictable, infrastructure-grade cash flows into our consolidated P&L, driving significant margin expansion over time. Turning to Slide 16, our Engineering segment—comprised of ESS Metron and E4A Solutions—serves as a key pillar of our execution strategy. The financial metrics for Engineering remain exceptionally strong. Engineering backlog stood at $193.4 million during the quarter, with approximately 90% of backlog continuing to be driven by data center sector demand.

Most importantly, the apparent decline in backlog for this quarter was entirely driven by our decision to strategically hold back manufacturing capacity for deployment towards our own data center business. Since acquiring ESS Metron in December 2021, Riot Platforms, Inc. has realized approximately $24 million in cumulative CapEx savings across our development footprint, and these savings will continue to compound as we further scale up. While this compounding cost advantage is accretive, the true strategic value of our Engineering business is control over procurement. Low- and medium-voltage switchgear, transformers, and power distribution centers are among the most severely constrained components in the data center supply chain.

For developers relying on third-party manufacturers, lead times are lengthening, and these lead times have become a binding constraint on delivery schedules across the industry. Because Riot Platforms, Inc. owns a dedicated switchgear and power distribution manufacturer, we can sequence, prioritize, and de-risk the schedule-critical equipment required to bring a data center online. This vertical integration was a key factor supporting our ability to deliver phase one of the AMD lease on an accelerated timeline. Looking ahead, we will continue to invest in this strategically important business. In 2026, we expect to increase ESS Metron's total engineering capacity by approximately 25%, and we will be strategically allocating that incremental capacity to support Riot Platforms, Inc. data center growth.

Further, because we manufacture these components in-house, we design them in parallel with our data center engineering team, allowing us to move faster and reducing redesign risk. Just as importantly, the same teams that manufacture this equipment also provide maintenance in the field, which will drive long-term operational efficiencies as our data centers are energized and stabilized. Taken together, our Engineering business is a core engine of our competitive moat in a market where time to power is the single most valuable commodity. Now I would like to turn it back over to Jason Les.

Jason Les: Thank you, Jason. I want to frame one of our key competitive advantages in the broader data center development market: secured power. Today, access to power is a key bottleneck in data center development globally. This makes our large portfolio of 2 gigawatts of fully approved power a strong competitive advantage, giving us one of the most significant development pipelines in our industry. However, we are not stopping here. We recognize that market demand for power is strong, and we are aggressively pursuing growth in our power portfolio across four distinct avenues. First, through greenfield and brownfield development—securing and developing new land assets that offer immediate or near-term approved power capacity.

Second, through behind-the-meter self-generation, allowing us to strategically colocate our own power production directly with our critical load. Third, through inorganic M&A—actively targeting and acquiring portfolios or organizations that already possess established access to power. And fourth, through strategic partnerships—forming joint ventures to expand our geographic footprint, rapidly grow our pipeline, and explore next-generation technologies. To put the scale and rigor of this effort into perspective, our corporate development team has already evaluated over 100 distinct opportunities across these four avenues. We have the team, the capital, and the strategy to continuously source the highest-quality power assets required to fuel our development pipeline. However, let me be clear. While we are aggressively pursuing these opportunities, we maintain rigorous capital discipline.

We will only execute on transactions that are highly accretive, financially responsible, and strictly aligned with our target return thresholds. Now I want to walk through the path we have taken to get to where we are today and provide investors with a clear picture of some of the obstacles Riot Platforms, Inc. has navigated in order to best position our power portfolio for maximum value creation. At the start of 2025, we engaged Altman Solon to conduct a formal feasibility study on both Corsicana and Rockdale. The conclusion was unambiguous: we had two of the most attractive data center sites in the country.

But the same study also identified two specific constraints that, left unresolved, would have prevented us from leasing that power to high-quality tenants at meaningful scale. The first was land at Corsicana, where our original footprint was insufficient to accommodate the full 1 gigawatt campus development we wanted to deliver. The second was our ground lease at Rockdale. Until we solved both of these constraints, we were not in a position to meaningfully advance design, development, or leasing at either site. Solving these constraints required patient, disciplined execution, and that is what we did.

Over the course of 2025, we successfully navigated a series of obstacles to acquire land adjacent to our original Corsicana site, unlocking the ability to develop the full 1 gigawatt of approved power on Riot Platforms, Inc.-owned land in a connected campus layout. At Rockdale, we converted our interest from a long-term ground lease into a fee simple acquisition of the 200 acres underlying the site. With those two transactions closed, we owned the land, took control over our own destiny at both sites, and removed the most significant barriers between our power portfolio and high-quality contracted leases. Critically, we did not wait for one workstream to finish before beginning the next.

In parallel with the land work, we systematically built out the organization starting in 2025 with veteran product design and engineering talent. With the Corsicana land situation on track, we completed the initial basis of design for our standard data center product and initial campus design for the full Corsicana buildout. Through 2025, we took those designs to market for direct technical and commercial feedback from prospective tenants, initiated core-and-shell development at Corsicana, and brought on senior commercial leadership to drive leasing execution. That disciplined, sequenced groundwork is exactly what allowed us to move decisively when the opportunity arrived.

In January, we signed our first data center lease with AMD and delivered the initial phase of capacity within the same month. Since that initial lease, we have expanded the AMD relationship to 50 megawatts, enhanced our standard design to increase density and flexibility, and are now actively engaged in commercial discussions at both of our sites. Every step on this timeline was necessary in order to maximize our value creation opportunity. Every one of them has been completed on an accelerated schedule. The result is that we now have an active commercial pipeline underpinned by secured land, a proven design, committed capital, and a tenant relationship that is already generating revenue today.

This is an excellent position to be in, and we are confident in our ability to continue to execute from here. Now I want to zoom in on part of that timeline and elaborate on the team we have built to execute on this opportunity. Over the past year, building out a world-class data center organization has been one of our highest priorities, because we knew from the start that the quality of our team would be every bit as important as the quality of our assets. What you see on this slide is the depth and breadth of the capabilities we have assembled across four pillars: commercial sales, critical operations, project execution, and design and construction.

Each of these functions is led by experienced, credentialed leadership with direct track records of delivering mission-critical infrastructure at hyperscale-grade platforms. On the commercial side, our sales organization is led by Ria Williams, our Senior Vice President of AI and Hyperscale Sales. Ria joined us following previous sales roles at Oracle, Compass Datacenters, and Digital Realty, and she brings both the relationships and the credibility necessary to engage hyperscalers and other top-tier tenants at the highest level. Ria reports directly to me. That reporting structure is deliberate.

Our leasing strategy is the single most important driver of long-term shareholder value at Riot Platforms, Inc., and having sales report directly to the CEO ensures that I am directly engaged in every major commercial discussion. I am also very pleased to announce today a significant addition to our leadership team. Adam is a proven infrastructure executive with more than 15 years of experience leading hyperscale and AI data center development at multi-gigawatt scale. He comes to us most recently from TA Digital Group, where he served as Senior Vice President of Design and Construction, and prior to that, he held leadership positions at both Google and Meta.

Adam is exactly the caliber of leader we need at this stage of our development, and we are thrilled to have him at the helm of our design, construction, and procurement teams as we scale Corsicana, Rockdale, and our broader data center platform. Rounding out the organization, our critical operations leadership brings deep experience running mission-critical environments to hyperscale SLA standards. Our project execution team combines in-house high-voltage and procurement expertise with integrated program management across our development pipeline. Every one of these functions is supported by Riot Platforms, Inc. broader enterprise platform, including our vertically integrated engineering capabilities at ESS Metron and E4A Solutions. The result is a data center organization that is experienced, credentialed, and deep.

This is the team that is already delivering for AMD at Rockdale, building Corsicana, and advancing the leasing discussions underway today. We have the right people in the right seats to execute on the opportunity in front of us, and our confidence in this team is reflected in the pace of progress you are seeing across our business. I want to close by putting this quarter into perspective. Riot Platforms, Inc. has four things that, in combination, are extraordinarily difficult to replicate. We have the assets—2 gigawatts of utility power, including 1.7 gigawatts of fully approved, energized capacity at two of the most attractive data center development sites in the United States.

We have the balance sheet—a 15,679 Bitcoin treasury worth roughly $1.1 billion at quarter end, significant cash on hand, operating cash flow from efficient, low-cost mining operations, and strong capital markets relationships that give us the ability to fund our growth on value-accretive terms. We have the team—our in-house data center organization includes veteran leadership across product design, construction, engineering, sales, and operations, and they are delivering on the AMD lease, developing our data center product, building Corsicana, and advancing our next wave of leasing discussions. And we have a repeatable approach—our power-first strategy: lease to creditworthy tenants, finance efficiently, build with discipline, recycle capital. Our priorities for the balance of 2026 are clear.

First, deliver contracted megawatts to AMD on schedule and on budget. Second, execute on additional leases at both Rockdale and Corsicana, with active discussions underway across hyperscale and other high-quality tenants. Third, advance core-and-shell development to support delivery of Tier III built-to-suit data center capacity. Fourth, secure attractive, low-cost financing that reflects the quality of our tenants and sites. Fifth, continue to selectively grow our power pipeline through greenfield and brownfield development, self-generation, partnerships, and targeted acquisitions. The opportunity in front of us is significant. Data center demand continues to grow rapidly, driven by the commercialization of AI and the accelerating need for high-density compute.

Power, execution talent, supply chain access, and capital discipline remain the binding constraints, and timelines for new capacity continue to extend. Riot Platforms, Inc. sits on the right side of these trends, with energized, fully approved power in exactly the right markets and with a built-out operating model that is delivering. The AMD expansion is a direct reflection of that position, and it is, we believe, just the beginning. As we continue to convert megawatts into contracted data center leases with creditworthy tenants, we expect the market to increasingly recognize the quality, scale, and cash flow visibility of our platform and to re-rate Riot Platforms, Inc. valuation accordingly.

On behalf of our entire management team, I want to thank our shareholders, partners, and employees for their continued support as we execute on this opportunity. We will now open the call for questions. Operator?

Operator: Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press [inaudible]. To withdraw your question, please press 1-1 again. Due to time constraints, we ask that you please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up question. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question will come from the line of Paul Golding with Macquarie.

Paul Golding: Thanks so much, and congrats on all the progress this quarter. I just wanted to ask a couple of questions. First, on the 25 megawatt expansion with AMD, I was hoping you could talk through some of the puts and takes. It looks like the total contract value across the 25 megawatts is up versus the initial lease, while, as you noted, the CapEx per megawatt is down due to a leaner build-out. Could you give some color on those puts and takes on how you were able to realize a better TCV versus a leaner build-out and better CapEx profile? And then I have a follow-up. Thank you so much.

Jason Les: Sure. Thanks, Paul. This expansion falls under the original lease that we executed with AMD earlier this year, so it is the same rental rate and terms. I think the only reason you may be seeing the difference is that there is an escalator clause in our agreement, and this new tranche runs over the course of those escalators occurring. Otherwise, it is substantially similar terms and rate. The only economic difference is the lower build-out cost that you mentioned. We are able to achieve that lower build-out cost because we are leveraging the full building preparation that was already done in the original phase.

When we did the first 25 megawatts, we prepared that full building, which had some additional expense. Now, as we execute the next 25 megawatt expansion completing that building out, we do not have to do that work again, so we have lower cost by leveraging the initial work and substantially the same lease terms. As you see on our slide, you combine all of these factors together, and you are getting a lower build cost, a slightly higher contract value, and altogether, an even improved yield from our original deal.

Paul Golding: Great. Thanks, Jason. Maybe a two-part follow-up. It does look like there may be a bit of a longer build-out period for that 25 megawatt expansion. Can you talk to that, and also the ROFR piece that was converted to an option as a follow-up to that? I know there is another 50 megawatts in that original option, as well as the 100 megawatt ROFR, but just to understand how that converted, as well as some of the timing considerations with the expansion? Thanks so much.

Jason Les: Yes. This is a pretty fast timeline to deliver capacity. We are announcing this deal here in April, and then we are delivering in October/November, so it is a quick timeline. To give you some color, with the first 25 megawatts for AMD, we were making progress on that schedule before the lease was signed. We were taking some calculated, manageable risks to be prepared and to get that first lease off the ground. With this expansion, you are seeing the whole process from the beginning, and this schedule is broadly in line with the build schedule in the first phase—the difference being we were not able to announce that until farther along in the process.

As far as the expansion option and the ROFR go, from the beginning we viewed our initial deal with AMD as the beginning of a larger partnership. The best way we at Riot Platforms, Inc. can achieve that is by being a consistent and reliable partner for AMD, positioning ourselves as their supplier of choice. By continuing to do what we are doing, we believe we are positioned to continue to grow that relationship, and the fact that AMD exercised part of its options a few months after the initial deal demonstrates that. More specifically on the ROFR, we converted the ROFR to an option to simplify the pathway of expansion with AMD.

We want to advance this relationship, and having an option instead of a ROFR gives them what they wanted and works better for us. With the pace of interest at Rockdale and in addition to Corsicana, it was better for us to have a defined mechanism for what AMD is looking for, instead of having to call that ROFR on terms or on a design different than AMD’s needs. We simplify our discussions with other potential tenants while also simplifying the pathway for expanding the relationship with AMD. That is how we thought about changing this ROFR to an option.

Paul Golding: Got it. All very clear. Thank you so much. Congrats again.

Operator: One moment for our next question. And that will come from the line of John Todaro with Needham. Your line is open.

John Todaro: Hey, thanks for taking my question, and congrats on the capacity with AMD. Could we get an update on current lease discussions beyond AMD at Rockdale and Corsicana—how you would characterize progression since last quarter, and if there have been any sticking points or gating factors? And then I have a follow-up.

Jason Les: Thank you for the question. Over the past few quarters, we have laid out the roadmap we have been on to execute a commercial process. We completed the foundational work to fill gaps, as we discussed on the timeline, and to bring a strong offering to the counterparties we want to lease to. As a result, we have been able to act on the substantial interest I mentioned on our last earnings call, and those discussions have advanced considerably since then. We are in a great spot; there are no gating items or issues. We are moving forward, we have interest for capacity across both Corsicana and Rockdale, and we are pursuing those opportunities in parallel.

On leasing, our philosophy has always been to focus on high-quality tenants that can drive the financing terms that maximize value. The type and depth of engagement we are getting validates the methodical approach we have taken. Our ability to succeed in this commercial process is enhanced when we go through onboarding with a hyperscaler and can check the box affirmatively on the vast majority of the hundreds of requirements they have. That is the result of preparation. Leasing this type of capacity to top-tier tenants is an enormous lift and can have an unpredictable timeline. We have seen peers have multiple deals start and stop before one got to the finish line.

While it is unpredictable, I am more confident than ever in our ability to succeed based on the progress we have made and the engagement we are getting. I cannot tell you when our next lease will be signed, but I believe you will continue to see us make progress over the roadmap we have laid out, ultimately culminating in a full lease-up of our capacity.

John Todaro: That is great, thanks. As a follow-up on demand signals: do you think we have seen fewer leases in the public markets so far than some investors expected in 2026? Is there anything beyond your conversations where there are changes in demand signals over the last several weeks or months?

Jason Les: We see the broader theme of data center demand outpacing supply continuing for the foreseeable future. The commercialization of AI is rapidly advancing, and everyone is going to continue to be short on compute. All of the hyperscalers’ earnings calls yesterday showed growing CapEx, and they are short on compute and capacity—identified as a key thing keeping some CEOs up at night. That theme remains intact. Each buyer is in a different phase of their own buying cycle, and at different times different companies are in a more urgent state than others. In this rapidly changing environment driven by AI, this cycle is running quicker than it has historically.

You are not always going to see the same level of urgency across the field, and that field can change from one quarter to the next. The important thing is that we at Riot Platforms, Inc. have built a structure where we can come fully prepared and rapidly respond and engage as customer interest comes forward. Whether it is reliance on our standard design or specific requirements that our design can easily accommodate, our preparation is paying off, and we are in the right market at the right time.

John Todaro: That is very helpful. Thanks for taking my questions, and congrats again.

Operator: Thank you. One moment for our next question. And that will come from the line of Mike Grondahl with Northland. Your line is open.

Mike Grondahl: Hey, thanks. Can you talk about some of the initial data center revenue this quarter—how that related to the initial 25 megawatts you are delivering, and how to think about margins this quarter and going forward?

Jason Chung: Mike, thanks for the question. To get a clear picture of our initial data center financials, it is important to break down the total segment revenues of $33.2 million for the quarter because there are two distinct revenue streams at play. First, the vast majority of that top line—$32.2 million—relates directly to tenant fit-out services, which we execute on a cost-plus basis. This generated $1.4 million in gross profit, at about a 5% margin. The remaining and more interesting data point is the core operating lease revenue, which was $900,000 for the quarter. This reflects a little over two months of revenue from the initial 5 megawatt delivery to AMD, which occurred in late January.

Regarding margins, the margin on that core operating lease component for this quarter was 91%. However, that 91% is a function of being in the early stages of AMD's ramp at Rockdale, meaning relatively lighter operating costs during those initial two-plus months. As AMD scales into their full capacity and site operations mature, we expect O&M costs to scale in line with that ramp-up and drive NOI margins towards the targeted 80% plus range we have put out publicly before.

Mike Grondahl: Got it. And then maybe one more as we close out Q3 and head into Q4: can you talk a little bit about the financing structure you envision for AMD and initial conversations you have had with lenders?

Jason Chung: Absolutely. Initial feedback has been very positive on the AMD financing, based on the strong cash flow profile of the lease, the attractive development yield, and the overall strength of having AMD as an investment-grade tenant. I cannot comment on specific spreads at this point, but we believe the overall structure of the deal—and the relative lack of supply of AMD debt in the market today—supports spreads that will be highly competitive with what we are seeing across the broader financing markets.

Mike Grondahl: Got it. Thank you, guys.

Operator: Thank you. One moment for our next question. And that will come from the line of Stephen Glagola with KBW. Your line is open.

Stephen Glagola: Hey, thanks for the questions. Two parts for me. With the recent changes in leadership on the data center side, has that had any impact on lease discussions you are having with hyperscalers or potential tenants in general? And second, sitting here today, do you feel you have the team in place to simultaneously advance leasing efforts at both Rockdale and Corsicana? Thank you.

Jason Les: Thanks for the question, Stephen. One of my ongoing responsibilities as CEO is to ensure that we have the right leadership structure and the right team in place to execute on our strategy. To do that, we are constantly looking at how we are organized and where additional talent can enhance our ability to succeed. Bringing in leaders like Adam Black to lead design and construction is a perfect example of that philosophy in action. You can imagine this is not something that happened overnight; it was some time in the making and was the right move to enhance our leadership structure. These changes have had absolutely no impact on development or commercial discussions.

Our continued rapid delivery for AMD—and their decision to exercise part of their option—is a perfect example of that. As we continue to make progress, that will become even more clear. For the second part of your question, do we feel that we have the right team in place right now? I believe we have an extremely strong team to execute at both Rockdale and Corsicana concurrently—and the reason I say that is because we are doing that right now. From design, construction, commercial sales, critical operations, and project execution perspectives, we have an incredibly strong leadership team assembled, working hand-in-hand to advance our strategy.

You can expect some incremental hiring for support roles across departments in the future as our business scales, but the core leadership structure has been built, and that is the team executing today.

Stephen Glagola: Thank you.

Operator: One moment for our next question. And that will come from the line of Brett Knoblauch with Cantor Fitzgerald. Your line is open.

Brett Knoblauch: Hi, thanks for taking my question. Maybe a quick double on Corsicana. It seems like there is a lot of momentum there, and last quarter you talked about customer conversations for taking down the entire site. Is that still the case? Do you have a preference for single-tenant or multi-tenant? And as a follow-up, on the procurement process for the core-and-shell—where are you on that, as well as the procurement process for what would come after the core-and-shell?

Jason Les: Thanks, Brett. On whether the majority of the conversations are still around the entire site—yes, that remains the case, and that is probably our preference. I want to emphasize that we still have the ability to accommodate multi-tenant if that is the way things go. At a potential 756 megawatts of leasable capacity, Corsicana is a huge deal. We have not seen any deals signed by peers at that scale. That is a fantastic asset for us, but it also means it is a big bite to chew for tenants committing to a multiyear deployment schedule at a huge scale.

So while the majority of interest is for the full site—as I said on our prior call—there are multiple potential outcomes this can take. There is still a substantial amount of interest, and we are very excited about that. On procurement, we previously secured and have already begun receiving the necessary substation equipment, so we are in a terrific position on the long-lead equipment for core-and-shell. At this point on core-and-shell development, it is largely an exercise in mobilizing labor. I am happy to share that we have secured a general contractor for this phase of development, and they are executing.

In fact, this is the same general contractor executing for us with AMD on a very accelerated timeline, and we feel great about this partnership. Beyond core-and-shell—talking about the Tier III eventual buildout of the site—we have been securing long-lead equipment for that, such as backup generators and chillers. As Jason mentioned in the prepared remarks, ESS Metron is scaling up and holding/allocating capacity for Riot Platforms, Inc. use. All of this procurement reflects our confidence in how our strategy is progressing. We are ensuring that we have an attractive offering and an attractive timeline. You can read into why we are making these moves—we feel good about the progress we are making with procurement, and development remains on schedule.

Brett Knoblauch: Awesome. Thanks so much, and congrats on the quarter.

Operator: Thank you. One moment for our next question. And that will come from the line of Brian Dobson with Clear Street.

Brian Dobson: Hey, thanks so much. One more follow-up on financing in general. Bitcoin sales have been a big part of your upfront financing. Do you expect that to continue? And would you elaborate on your view of long-term debt financing and how that fits into your broader strategy moving forward?

Jason Les: Let me turn that question to Jason Chung.

Jason Chung: Sure. Hey, Brian. That is correct—right now, our Bitcoin treasury and operating cash flows remain the most capital-efficient, non-dilutive sources of funding available to us. As a reminder, we executed our Q1 development entirely without issuing any common equity. Looking ahead to our broader financing philosophy, as our leasing pipeline scales, we recognize that establishing deep, diversified access to capital is critical. We are in active discussions with capital markets participants and evaluating a wide spectrum of debt options, ranging from asset-specific project financing to broader corporate debt markets. To be clear, we are not looking to push all of our future growth through a single financing channel.

We fully expect our long-term capital structure to utilize a mix of different instruments, and the specific path we take for any given project will depend on the dynamics of that particular underlying lease, the credit profile of the tenant, prevailing market conditions at the time, and Riot Platforms, Inc. own needs. Regardless of whether a specific project is funded through project finance, capital markets, or otherwise, the mechanics will remain the same in that the debt will be supported by long-duration, highly visible cash flows from investment-grade tenants, in line with our leasing strategy.

By maintaining a strong balance sheet today, we are preserving the optionality to tap into the right market with the right instrument at the right cost of capital for every future lease.

Brian Dobson: Yeah, thanks very much for the color.

Operator: Thank you. One moment for our next question. And that will come from the line of Nick Giles with B. Riley Securities. Your line is open.

Nick Giles: Thank you, operator, and good afternoon, everyone. I wanted to ask about the potential cadence of AMD's remaining 150 megawatt expansion option. Is there a date where the options expire? I see the illustrative chart on Slide 22 shows the second 100 megawatt tranche is contingent on power availability—what exactly does that mean? Thanks.

Jason Les: The cadence of expansion with the AMD lease will be driven by them. As I said earlier, we will continue to be good partners, deliver capacity, and ensure we are the first call they make when they are looking to expand capacity. As far as the mechanics of the options, the new 100 megawatt option is conditional on first utilizing all of the first option, which now has 50 megawatts remaining. There is some confidentiality to the agreement, so I do not want to elaborate further. One comment: the original lease and expansion clearly go into the two buildings already there—Buildings F and G. For the next 100 megawatts, that would require a new building or capacity being developed.

I would say stay tuned as we work on those plans and that development pipeline comes together.

Nick Giles: Got it. For my follow-up, regarding your pipeline and the four different growth options, which do you favor most? And out of the 100-plus opportunities referenced in your prepared remarks, were those mostly greenfield and brownfield, behind-the-meter, M&A, or JVs?

Jason Les: In this environment where power is so constrained, I do not think you can have a single preference. We laid out that slide because we are pulling on every lever possible to build our pipeline. As we advance commercial discussions at Rockdale and Corsicana, this pipeline becomes even more important—we have built the base of our business with these large core assets, and now we are thinking about how we continue the strategy from there. Our philosophy is that it will require creativity and being open-minded to all of those options. They all have merit, with pros and cons, and you can expect to see a bit of everything as we progress in building our pipeline.

Nick Giles: Got it. Thanks for the color, and best of luck.

Operator: That is all the time we have today for our question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Jason Les for any closing remarks.

Jason Les: I want to thank everyone for tuning in to our call today—our investors, shareholders, analysts, and partners. We are incredibly excited about the progress we have made and the position we are in today. We have more confidence than ever right now, and we are very excited to continue sharing progress as we make it. We will see you on our next earnings call, if not before.

Operator: This concludes today's program. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect.

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