Shares of Riot Platforms jumped nearly 9% Wednesday after activist investor Starboard Value LP urged the bitcoin miner to accelerate a strategic pivot into AI data centers. In a letter to Riot’s board, Starboard said Riot’s 1.7 gigawatts of fully available power capacity—and its Texas sites in Corsicana and Rockdale—make the company “well positioned to execute high‑quality AI/HPC deals.” The activist pushed Riot to aggressively pursue high‑margin AI and high‑performance computing (AI/HPC) hosting contracts, arguing that if the company can monetize its power “in line with recent transactions in the space, it could generate more than $1.6 billion” in annual EBITDA. Starboard highlighted Riot’s recently announced deal with AMD, which the firm estimates will produce about $311 million over 10 years, as a sign the company can win meaningful partnerships. Riot, with a market cap of roughly $4.25 billion, is the fifth‑largest U.S. bitcoin miner. Its shares are up about 19% over the past year but remain nearly 80% below the peaks seen during the 2021 bitcoin bull market, and have lagged peers such as IREN, Cipher Mining and Hut 8 that moved earlier into AI strategies. This is not Starboard’s first nudge: the firm, Riot’s fourth‑largest shareholder at the end of last year, previously asked in December 2024 that some mining sites be converted into data centers capable of hosting HPC machines. In its latest letter Starboard urged CEO Jason Les and Executive Chairman Benjamin Yi to act “with urgency” to position Riot as a long‑term infrastructure provider for AI workloads. The logic is straightforward: power is a rare and increasingly valuable commodity for data centers as power‑hungry models like OpenAI’s GPT‑4o drive demand. Riot’s abundant grid access could let it lease capacity to major AI firms and diversify revenue away from purely bitcoin mining. Investors will be watching for concrete moves—site conversions, new hosting contracts, or further partnerships—that could validate Starboard’s thesis and reshape Riot’s business mix. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

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