Riot’s Bitcoin mining profits are declining sharply due to lower prices.
• Activist investor Starboard urges Riot to accelerate its shift to AI data centers.
• Many Bitcoin miners are pivoting to AI hosting for steadier, higher margins.
Riot Platforms, one of the largest U.S. Bitcoin mining companies, is under growing pressure to pivot to Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The company owns large power sites in Texas that could be repurposed for AI computing instead of mining rigs.
Riot’s profits from Bitcoin mining have been declining, and a major investor is pushing the company to move faster into AI data centers.
On Feb. 18, activist investor Starboard Value sent a letter to Riot.
Starboard, Riot’s fourth-largest shareholder at the end of 2025, wants the company to accelerate its shift away from pure Bitcoin mining.
Starboard highlighted Riot’s two large Texas sites—Corsicana and Rockdale—which together offer 1.7 gigawatts of power.
The investor said these sites are ideal for AI and high-performance computing.
If Riot leases power and space the way other companies have, it could earn over $1.6 billion in annual profit.
Starboard emphasized that Riot must act quickly to seize this opportunity before competitors do.
Riot CEO Jason Les said last summer that leasing data center space yields higher profits and can boost stock prices more than mining Bitcoin.
The company has begun exploring AI applications and recently signed a deal with chipmaker AMD.
Bitcoin prices dropped sharply in late 2025 and early 2026, reducing mining profitability.
Riot’s cost to mine one Bitcoin—including all expenses— has reached around $89,000.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin trades between $60,000 and $70,000, leaving no room for profit.
• In November 2025, Riot mined 428 Bitcoins, down 14% from the prior year.
• In December, it mined 460 Bitcoins, still 11% lower than December 2024.
• To raise cash, the company sold a record 1,818 Bitcoins in December for $161.6 million.
Wall Street expects Riot to report a loss of $0.22 per share for Q4 2025.
Mining profitability across the industry hit a 14-month low in January 2026 due to lower Bitcoin prices, higher power costs from winter storms, and tougher competition.
Even with a strong Q3 2025—$180 million in revenue and $104 million in net income—the recent Bitcoin slump has reversed gains.
Riot is not alone. At least eight other publicly traded Bitcoin miners are shifting partially or fully to AI data centers.