Starboard Sees $21 Billion Upside for Riot Platforms With AI Pivot

Activist investor Starboard Value believes Riot Platforms may be sitting on a multibillion-dollar opportunity if it moves quickly.

The core of the argument is power. Riot’s Texas campuses in Rockdale and Corsicana control large-scale energy capacity, a scarce asset as AI data center demand surges. Under a January agreement with Advanced Micro Devices, AMD will initially lease 25 megawatts of IT load at Riot’s Rockdale site, with options to scale to 200 MW. Starboard views the deal as proof of concept but says Riot still has roughly 1.4 gigawatts available to monetize.

While Riot has begun converting parts of its mining footprint toward AI tenants, peers have moved more aggressively. Bitfarms recently rebranded as Keel Infrastructure and shifted its domicile to the U.S., while Hive Digital, CleanSpark, and Cipher Mining are expanding AI-linked data center operations.

Starboard acknowledged improvements in Riot’s governance and efficiency over the past year, including board additions with data center experience and cost controls. Still, it warned that without faster deal execution, Riot risks being valued as a miner rather than a data center operator, which typically commands higher multiples.

Part of the letter stated:

For Riot, the message is clear: the market sees optionality in its power-rich footprint. The question is whether management can convert that potential into contracts before competitors lock up the demand.