Needham sees AMD-Anthropic deal raising odds of more Riot Platforms leases

Needham sees AMD-Anthropic deal raising odds of more Riot Platforms leases William Foxley Thu, July 23, 2026 at 3:48 PM GMT+2 2 min read AMD RIOT Investment bank Needham sees upsides for Riot Platforms (NASDAQ: RIOT) following AMD and Anthropic's newest announcement. The investment bank maintained its "Buy" rating and $28. 50 price target, compared with Riot's Wednesday closing price of $23.

38. AMD announced on Wednesday a deal in which Anthropic is set to use as much as 2 gigawatts of its AI chips, with the first gigawatt due to start deployment in the first half of 2027. AMD also said it will invest up to $5 billion in Anthropic, with the commitment tied to deployment milestones.

AMD was reportedly discussing a financial backstop for Anthropic's future data-center leases, a measure Needham said could make AMD customers and partners more attractive tenants for infrastructure operators such as Riot. Stay ahead of AI infrastructure deals. Get Blockspace in your inbox.

AMD's Rockdale expansion rights Riot currently has 50 MW of critical IT load contracted with AMD at Riot's Rockdale data center. AMD also retains rights covering another 150 MW, potentially bringing its total footprint at the site to 200 MW, according to Riot's March quarterly filing . The structure includes 50 MW of reserved capacity under an existing expansion option.

AMD also holds a conditional first-priority right for another 100 MW, exercisable in increments of at least 50 MW, after it uses the remaining reserved capacity and subject to available power. Needham said AMD's larger Anthropic commitment raises the probability that AMD exercises those rights or directs customers toward Riot. The analyst also sees potential for AMD credit support to strengthen future leases, although no additional Riot agreement was announced with the Anthropic partnership.

Riot is separately marketing its Corsicana, Texas, site to multiple prospective tenants. The campus is expected to offer about 1 GW of capacity when fully developed, while Rockdale has a 700 MW grid interconnection that Riot intends to convert fully toward data-center workloads. Needham values Riot's AI/HPC upside Needham based its $28.

50 target on 21 times discounted 2028 adjusted EBITDA. The bank said Riot trades below data-center peers that have made more progress securing AI/HPC tenants, while describing Corsicana as one of the more attractive assets in its coverage. The base case assumes bitcoin averages about $110,000 during 2027 and 2028, alongside growth in Riot's data-center portfolio.

The bull case assumes AMD takes the remaining 150 MW at Rockdale and Riot signs an investment-grade anchor tenant at Corsicana. The bear case assumes no further AI/HPC leases and possible construction delays. Story Continues Stay ahead of AI infrastructure deals.

Get Blockspace in your inbox. Needham identified weaker bitcoin prices, delayed construction and an inability to secure further leases at expected economics among the risks to its target. The firm disclosed that it makes a market in Riot shares and expects to seek compensation for investment-banking services from Riot within three months.