Hut 8 signs 15-year AI lease backed by Google, shares rise 25 percent premarket

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Hut 8 announced a long-term lease agreement with Fluidstack for 245 megawatts of IT capacity at its River Bend campus. Hut 8 shares rose 25% premarket following the announcement of the Google-backed lease.

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Hut 8 announced Wednesday that it has signed a 15-year lease with Fluidstack for 245 megawatts of IT capacity at its River Bend data center campus in Louisiana. The value of the basic contract is 7 billion dollars, and if all renewal options are exercised, it can reach 17.7 billion dollars.

The triple-net lease includes annual rent escalations and gives Fluidstack the right of first delivery for an additional 1,000 megawatts at the site for future expansion capacity.

The deal is backed by Google's financial backstop covering lease payments and related obligations over a 15-year base period.

Hut 8 CEO Asher Ginot, who discussed the River Bend deal, said it validates its development strategy, which prioritizes energy availability and long-term performance with blue-chip partners.

“Together with Louisiana State, Entergy, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Vertiv and Jacobs, we look forward to delivering next-generation AI and high-performance computing infrastructure at scale, and are committed to applying the same rigorous, long-term focus as we grow the business across our broad growth pipelines,” Genoot said.

Hut 8 also announced partnerships with Anthropoc and Fluidstack to develop a comprehensive AI data center infrastructure in the US.

Hat 8 shares rose 25 percent in premarket trading after the company announced the deal, according to Yahoo Finance. The stock rose 4% on Tuesday, extending its gains for the year to around 80%.