Hut 8 signs $9.8 billion AI data center lease, commercializes Texas campus

Hut 8 Corp. fully commercialized its 1-gigawatt Beacon Point campus in Texas with a second 15-year, $9.8 billion lease from an existing investment-grade tenant, bringing the site's total contract value to $19.6 billion.

The crypto-mining-turned-AI-infrastructure company said Monday it signed a second 352-megawatt IT lease at the Nueces County campus, doubling the unnamed high-investment-grade tenant's contracted footprint to 704 MW. The deal fully commercializes Beacon Point against its 1,000 MW of utility capacity secured under an interconnection agreement with AEP Texas.

"The real test of our power-first approach is what our partners are willing to commit against it," Asher Genoot, chief executive officer of Hut 8, said. "Our tenant at Beacon Point chose to double its footprint at the site, the strongest validation an asset can receive."

The Phase 2 lease runs on substantially the same triple-net terms as the original, including a 3 percent annual base rent escalator. Hut 8 will deliver a second AI factory designed around Nvidia's DSX reference architecture for gigawatt-scale infrastructure, supported by 500 MW of utility capacity. The company redesigned the first data hall around Nvidia's architecture, boosting IT capacity by 57 percent within the same land and utility footprint — a move that preceded the tenant doubling its commitment.

The deal pushes Hut 8's total contracted AI data center capacity to 949 MW, backed by 1,330 MW of utility capacity, with an aggregate base-term contract value of $26.6 billion across its portfolio. Expected average annual net operating income from the portfolio exceeds $1.75 billion. Renewal options at Beacon Point could push the campus-level contract value to $50.2 billion if all three five-year options are exercised.

Hut 8's pivot from bitcoin mining to AI infrastructure mirrors a broader industry shift as technology companies commit hundreds of billions of dollars to data centers packed with Nvidia's advanced chips. The scramble for compute capacity has made electricity availability one of the biggest constraints in the sector, favoring developers like Hut 8 that secured power assets during the crypto boom.

The company expects to begin delivering the first Phase 2 data hall in the second quarter of 2028, with initial energization on schedule for the first quarter of 2027. Site preparation is underway and long-lead critical equipment has been procured.

Hut 8 shares, which have nearly doubled this year, rose about 5 percent in premarket trading. The company trades on Nasdaq and the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker HUT. All of its contracted AI data center capacity is leased to or backstopped by investment-grade counterparties, a credit profile that supported the financing of Phase 1 with investment-grade debt.

The Beacon Point campus represents a template for Hut 8's power-first development model: secure the site, contract capacity with investment-grade tenants, finance construction, and deliver. The company said it plans to apply the same approach across its development pipeline, though it did not disclose specific next sites.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.