A shareholder of Riot Platforms, Starboard Value, is urging the company to expedite its transition towards high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI). In a letter sent to executives on Wednesday, Starboard highlighted the potential for the company to achieve an equity value contribution between $9 billion and $21 billion from AI and HPC data centers located in Texas.
With an urgent tone, the activist investor emphasized the need for Riot to finalize significant deals quickly, noting that the company has 1.4 gigawatts of gross capacity yet to be monetized. Starboard also expressed confidence in Riot's ability to attract high-quality tenants for tier-3 data centers, with lease terms potentially matching or exceeding those of competitors by late 2025.
At the opening of the Nasdaq market on Wednesday, Riot's stock price experienced a nearly 6% increase. This shift occurs amid a broader trend of cryptocurrency mining firms, including CleanSpark and Core Scientific, moving towards AI and HPC due to rising operational challenges in mining.
Starboard also referenced a recent agreement with Advanced Micro Devices as a promising development, although they indicated that this was only a preliminary step and more substantial transactions are anticipated.