Cipher Mining (CIFR) jumped 19% on Monday after signing a $5.5 billion lease agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS), pushing deeper into the red-hot artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.
The 15-year agreement will see Cipher deliver 300 megawatts (MW) of power capacity to AWS by late 2026, with the first phase starting in July, according to the firm’s press release. The facilities will include both air and liquid-cooled racks, key features for the kind of high-performance computing (HPC) AI models require.
Cipher also announced it has taken majority control of a new joint venture to build a 1 gigawatt site in West Texas. The facility, dubbed “Colchis,” sits on 620 acres near an American Electric Power substation and has secured a Direct Connect agreement with AEP. Construction is targeted for completion in 2028, the firm said.
These moves underline a deeper shift in the role of crypto mining companies, which are increasingly being tapped to supply the power and infrastructure that big tech firms with lofty AI ambitions need. Bitcoin miners already manage large-scale energy contracts and computing infrastructure, now in high demand from hyperscalers like AWS and Google.
IREN (IREN), another bitcoin miner that pivoted to AI computing, announced Monday a $9.7 billion cloud computing deal with Microsoft, sending its stock more than 20% higher.
Cipher earnings
Cipher reported on Monday $72 million in Q3 revenue and adjusted earnings of $41 million. The AWS lease and a previously announced $3 billion deal with Fluidstack and Google brings its total AI-hosting contracts to roughly $8.5 billion.
The firm said its pipeline now includes 3.2 gigawatts (GW) of site capacity.
“As the industry evolves rapidly and validates our thesis that Tier 1 hyperscalers would turn to Cipher and to non-traditional areas in Texas, we’re more confident than ever that Cipher is among the best-positioned companies in the world to seize additional opportunities created by the growing power shortfall,” CEO Tyler Page said in a statement.
