Hut 8 Lands $7B Google-Backed AI Data Center Deal, Shares Surge

Hut 8 signed a 15-year, $7B lease with Fluidstack for 245MW of AI data center capacity, backed by Google and major banks. The deal could reach $17.7B with renewals, boosting Hut 8's AI infrastructure pivot.

Hut 8 has signed a landmark 15-year lease agreement with Fluidstack for 245 megawatts of AI data center capacity at its River Bend campus in Louisiana, valued at $7 billion over the base term. The deal, backed by Google as a financial guarantor, includes options for three five-year renewals that could raise the total contract value to $17.7 billion. Major financial institutions such as JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs are expected to provide up to 85% of project-level financing. The agreement grants Fluidstack a Right of First Offer for up to an additional 1,000 megawatts of IT capacity in future expansion phases. The River Bend facility is designed to support high-performance computing and AI workloads, with the first data hall scheduled for commissioning in the second quarter of 2027. Hut 8 is partnering with Anthropic and Fluidstack to deliver GPU-based infrastructure for AI models, marking a significant shift from its traditional focus on Bitcoin mining to becoming a digital infrastructure provider for the AI sector. Following the announcement, Hut 8 shares surged up to 25% in premarket trading.