Bitcoin miner Riot’s Q1 data center deposits $33 million, AMD signs to double computing power

Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms (NASDAQ: RIOT) reported its 2026 Q1 financial results on April 30. In the first quarter, its data center business booked $33.2 million, while customer AMD doubled its contracted compute capacity from 25 megawatts (MW) to 50 MW. Riot framed the results as a “decisive turning point” in its transition to becoming a leading AI data center operator. In the same period, however, the bitcoin mining business recorded a quarterly net loss of $500 million, as the per-coin cost was $96,283—already exceeding the production value of $75,964 per coin.

Data center Q1: $33.2 million booked, but more than 90% are one-off fit-out payments

Riot’s Q1 total revenue was $167.2 million, with $33.2 million coming from a newly formed data center business segment. But the revenue mix is not evenly distributed—only $0.9 million comes from high-margin long-term lease revenue (gross margin of 91%), while $32.2 million comes from one-off “tenant fit-out” services, with a gross margin of just 5%. In other words, although the data center booking figure for the quarter is large, most of it is low-margin engineering revenue that helps customers convert empty facilities into computing-ready spaces; the portion that truly reflects stable long-term rent inflows is still relatively small.

The key structural signal is that AMD doubled its contracted capacity from 25 MW to 50 MW. This indicates that AMD’s evaluation of Riot’s data center services concluded that the offering is “worth expanding investment”—a crucial anchor for Riot’s shift from a miner to an AI infrastructure provider. As the fit-out phase is completed and the business moves into a long-term lease model, the data center gross margin structure in subsequent quarters will be the core to watch in determining whether the transition succeeds or fails.

Bitcoin mining losses: cost per coin $96K+ > production value $76K

Riot’s Q1 bitcoin mining business faces structural losses: the fully loaded cost per bitcoin (including depreciation) was $96,283, but the market value corresponding to bitcoin produced in the quarter was only about $75,964—meaning mining loses 26.7% for every coin produced. Total Q1 net losses were about $500 million, and adjusted EBITDA was negative $311 million.

The mining business’s cost structure mainly comes from energy, depreciation of mining rigs, and operations and maintenance. As the price of bitcoin has fallen into the 75K–80K range over the past two months, miners across the industry are under similar pressure. Over the past year, a steady stream of cybersecurity incidents has also impacted crypto market valuations, and with ETF flows continuing to move out day after day, near-term upside momentum for bitcoin prices remains limited—so miners’ Q2 performance may still face continued headwinds.

What to watch next: fit-out → long-term lease conversion, and when AMD’s 50MW is completed

There are three key indicators for whether Riot’s transition succeeds. First, whether the share of fit-out services in data center revenue can fall meaningfully in Q3–Q4. Second, when the engineering work to expand AMD to 50 MW is completed, and when pricing begins under the long-term lease model. Third, whether the company can secure a second and third-largest customer beyond AMD (such as other AI compute demand players) to avoid excessive concentration risk. For the crypto industry, if Riot’s transition works, it will provide other miners facing mining losses (such as Marathon Digital, Hut 8, and CleanSpark) with a concrete playbook for “transitioning AI infrastructure using mining hardware and power resources,” accelerating a structural reshuffle across the BTC mining ecosystem.

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