Key Takeaways:
Hut 8 Corp. has transformed from a Bitcoin miner into an AI infrastructure developer, signing $27 billion in contracted revenue and sending its stock up 128% this year — while its former mining unit, backed by the Trump family, has lost more than three-quarters of its value.
Hut 8 Corp. (HUT) shares have surged as much as 200% from their 2026 low of $44 to a peak of $133, after the company signed a $9.8 billion, 15-year lease with an unnamed technology hyperscaler at its Beacon Point data center campus in Texas. The stock now trades near $108, up about 128% for the year.
"We had zero contracted AI revenue about a year ago," Chief Executive Officer Asher Genoot said in a CNBC interview. He now counts roughly $27 billion in contracted AI revenue and about $1.75 billion in annualized earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
The second phase of Beacon Point adds 352 megawatts of IT capacity, doubling the campus to 704 MW under contract with the same high-investment-grade tenant. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated its buy rating and $124 price target on the stock, calling the expansion "validation of Hut 8's high-performance computing infrastructure strategy." The firm raised its 2028 estimates to $1.8 billion in revenue and $1.1 billion in EBITDA, up from $1.7 billion and $1.0 billion, respectively.
The Bitcoin Mining Spin-Off That Didn't Work
Hut 8 no longer runs Bitcoin mining directly. In March 2025, it moved that business into American Bitcoin Corp. (ABTC), a separately traded subsidiary that Hut 8 majority owns and that Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. partly back. Unlike Hut 8's AI pivot, ABTC doubled down on mining, expanding its fleet capacity and its Bitcoin reserve through 2026.
That bet has not paid off. ABTC shares have fallen more than 76% in 2026, a drop that wiped out over $600 million from Eric Trump's stake. The two stocks now tell starkly different stories: Hut 8's chart shows a company riding the AI infrastructure wave, while ABTC's reflects the volatility of pure-play crypto mining.
The Power Debate and the Profit Question
Genoot pushed back against a New York Times report that blamed data centers for $6.3 billion in added electricity bills across PJM Interconnection, the grid operator covering 13 states and Washington, D.C. "It's not true," he said, arguing that most data center developers cover their own transmission upgrades and energy costs rather than passing them to ratepayers. "Power is the key resource that allows AI data centers to thrive," he said. "Our thesis as a company is power fuels technology."
Independent analysts have raised questions about the timeline for profitability. A Seeking Alpha review of Hut 8's first-quarter 2026 results found a $253 million net loss and negative margins in its digital infrastructure segment. The same analysis does not expect material AI revenue until the second quarter of 2027.
What It Means for Investors
Hut 8's transformation mirrors a broader shift in the data center industry, where power-constrained hyperscalers are signing long-term leases with developers who can secure energy capacity quickly. The company's $27 billion contract pipeline gives it revenue visibility through 2041, but the gap between contracted revenue and actual cash flow remains wide. Whether Hut 8 can convert its backlog into positive earnings before ABTC's mining bet recovers — or drags down the parent's balance sheet — will determine which of the two stock charts investors remember.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
