Cipher Mining and Fluidstack agreed on a 10-year deal for AI hosting that will see Cipher deliver 168 MW of critical IT load at its Lake Barber site in Colorado City, Texas, and Google will receive warrants to buy about 24 million Cipher shares as part of the arrangement.
The move gives Google roughly a 5.4% pro forma stake and has Google backing $1.4 billion of Fluidstack lease obligations to support project financing.
The contract is worth about $3 billion over the first 10 years and could grow to roughly $7 billion if two optional five-year extensions are used.Â
Deal terms
Cipher says the critical IT load is due by September 2026 and that it will keep full ownership of the project while tapping capital markets as needed.
Under the agreement, Cipher will supply up to 244 MW of gross capacity, of which 168 MW is specified as critical IT load for Fluidstack.
The 10-year base term brings significant contracted revenue for Cypher, and the two extension options would more than double that revenue if exercised.
Google’s warrants are part of the package and aim to align long-term interests between the partners.
Google’s financial support
Beyond warrants, Google has agreed to backstop $1.4 billion in lease obligations tied to Fluidstack’s project financing. That backstop is meant to make lenders more comfortable and help secure the debt needed to build the facilities.
Cipher will remain the sole owner of the site and says it will go to the markets to raise some of the funds required to complete the work.
Power plans and timing
Cipher will target delivering the 168 MW of critical IT load by September 2026. The additional gross capacity of 244 MW gives room for growth and operational buffers.
Cipher’s Lake Barber site in Texas will be the physical location for the work, and the company picked the site to host the high-performance computing and AI workloads that Fluidstack will run.
Financing moves and market reaction
Cipher also announced a private offering to raise $800 million through 0.00% convertible senior notes due in 2031. The company said it may give initial buyers an option to buy an extra $120 million of notes.
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On the stock market, Cipher’s shares jumped as much as 20% on the news and were trading up about 5% in premarket trading at the time of the report.
The share price has climbed significantly since April, roughly seven times higher from the bottom, as Bitcoin miners pivot into high-performance computing and AI infrastructure.
Strategy and industry context
The deal shows how some miners are moving beyond pure Bitcoin work and looking to host AI and other compute-heavy tasks. Cipher’s agreement with Fluidstack, supported by Google’s financial commitments, aims to tap growing demand for specialised compute centres.Â
Cipher says it will keep control of the project so it can manage operations and future business choices.
Risk and next steps
Cipher still needs to secure funding and complete construction to meet the September 2026 target. The backstop and warrants reduce some financing risk, but delivering a large power load at scale carries engineering and execution challenges.
The convertible notes offering will be one way to raise cash, though the company will likely use multiple financing sources to spread risk.
Other moves in the sector
On August 19th, we reported that Google recently became the largest shareholder in another Bitcoin miner, TeraWulf, after taking a 14% stake through a separate financing.Â
That deal and the Cipher agreement suggest big tech firms are increasingly active in the crypto mining and compute hosting parts of the market.
If Cipher meets its timeline and funding milestones, the Lake Barber project could become a notable site for AI and high-performance work while showing how miners can repurpose their skills and assets.
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