Hut 8 Corp. announced a sweeping AI infrastructure partnership on Wednesday with AI model developer Anthropic and compute provider Fluidstack, marking a pretty clear signal that the bitcoin miner is pivoting to a large-scale energy and data center developer.
Under the agreement, Hut 8 will develop between 245 megawatts (MW) and up to 2,295 MW of AI-focused data center capacity in the United States, beginning with a flagship project at its River Bend campus in Louisiana.
The partnership is structured across multiple tranches, creating a pathway to scale from an initial deployment to gigawatt-level infrastructure over time.
The first phase centers on a 245 MW IT deployment at River Bend, supported by roughly 330 MW of utility power. Hut 8 will develop the site, while Fluidstack will operate high-performance compute clusters for Anthropic. Construction of the initial data halls is expected to be completed by early 2027.
Beyond the initial phase, Fluidstack has secured a right of first offer for up to an additional 1,000 MW of IT capacity at River Bend, contingent on further power expansion.
A third tranche gives Hut 8 and Anthropic the option to jointly diligence and develop up to 1,050 MW of additional capacity across Hut 8’s broader development pipeline.
Financially, the River Bend project is anchored by a 15-year triple-net lease with Fluidstack valued at approximately $7 billion over the base term, with total contract value rising to roughly $17.7 billion if all renewal options are exercised.
Alphabet-owned Google is providing a financial backstop covering lease payments and certain operating obligations over the base term, underscoring the strategic importance of securing long-term AI compute capacity, per Reuters reporting.
Hut 8 ($HUT) stock soars
Hut 8 shares surged more than 20% in premarket trading following the announcement, extending a rally that has seen the stock rise roughly 80% year-to-date.
Investors appear to be rewarding the company’s pivot toward AI infrastructure at a time when access to power, cooling, and suitable real estate has become a bottleneck for leading model developers.
“Scaling frontier AI infrastructure is, at its core, a power challenge,” Hut 8 CEO Asher Genoot said in a statement, emphasizing the company’s “power-first” development strategy.
He added that the partnership aligns power sourcing, data center design, and compute deployment into a single integrated platform capable of operating at gigawatt scale.
For Anthropic, the deal expands an existing relationship with Fluidstack and provides a new channel for bringing capacity online as demand for advanced models continues to grow.
“Hut 8’s ability to source and deliver infrastructure at scale provides the runway necessary to continue advancing the capabilities of our models,” said James Bradbury, Anthropic’s head of compute.
The agreement also reflects a broader industry shift. Former crypto miners such as Hut 8, CoreWeave, or Bitfarms are increasingly repurposing their energy-heavy infrastructure for AI workloads as demand for Nvidia-powered compute accelerates.
While execution risk remains — particularly around power delivery timelines and construction— Hut 8’s latest deal positions it among a small but growing group of firms bridging the worlds of energy, AI, and large-scale digital infrastructure.
Hut 8 recently reduced some of its bitcoin holdings by 389 BTC during the last month, standing out among a small group of miners and corporates trimming exposure.
While some firms added modest amounts and ETF flows turned positive, the data points to a split market in which Hut 8 and a few others acted as sellers amid pressure, contrasting with disciplined treasury buyers and programmatic accumulation elsewhere.
At the time of writing, Hut 8 shares are up 17%. Earlier in pre-market trading, shares were up over 25% at times. The price per share is currently $43.75.
Source: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/markets/bitcoin-miner-hut-8-secures-google-deal
