Cipher Mining shares jump 33% on $5.5 billion AWS AI deal, new 1 GW Texas site

Bitcoin miner-turned-AI diversifier Cipher Mining announced a 15-year, $5.5 billion lease agreement with Amazon Web Services to provide space and power for AI workloads during its third-quarter update on Monday.

Under the agreement, Cipher will provide 300 MW of capacity in 2026, featuring both air- and liquid-cooled racks. Delivery will occur in two phases, beginning in July and finishing in the fourth quarter of 2026, with rent starting in August.

Cipher also announced a new joint venture to develop a 1-gigawatt site in West Texas named “Colchis.” Cipher will provide most of the financing, giving it approximately 95% equity ownership, assuming standard lease and development terms under a future high-performance computing lease, the firm said.

The site includes a direct connection agreement with American Electric Power, which will build dual interconnections targeting 2028 energization, pending grid operator ERCOT’s final review. The 620-acre site, located next to an existing substation, is fully suited for HPC data center development, the firm stated.

Cipher previously signed a 10-year, 168 MW AI hosting agreement with Fluidstack in September, backed by a $1.4 billion guarantee from Google, which received a 5.4% equity stake.

“The third quarter was truly transformative for Cipher,” CEO Tyler Page said. “We executed a pivotal transaction with Fluidstack and Google, which firmly established our credibility in the HPC space. We are now following that transaction with another major step forward by signing our first direct lease with a Tier 1 hyperscaler.”

Following the news, Cipher’s stock gained over 33% in early market trading on Monday, according to The Block’s CIFR price page. It is currently changing hands for $24.81 — having gained over 400% year-to-date.

CIFR/USD price chart. Image: The Block/TradingView.

Cipher reports net loss of $3 million for Q3

Cipher reported a net loss of $3 million, or $0.01 per share, for the third quarter alongside adjusted earnings of $41 million, or $0.10 per diluted share. The company said its AI hosting contracts now represent roughly $8.5 billion in total lease payments and also highlighted the completion of a $1.3 billion convertible note offering during the quarter.

Other AI-diversifying bitcoin miners have seen similar gains for their stocks as the burgeoning AI industry seeks to tap into their lucrative power capacity and infrastructure contracts. While bitcoin mining ASIC chips are not suitable for AI workloads, these firms often have access to critical power supply contracts, physical data centers, and other tech that can be adapted for GPU-hosting amid the boom.

Earlier on Monday, IREN announced it has signed a five-year, $9.7 billion AI cloud deal with Microsoft, providing the tech giant access to its Nvidia GB300 GPUs. IREN’s stock surged nearly 30% at one point during pre-market trading.