In a high-stakes strategic intervention, activist investment fund Starboard Value has publicly called for Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms to aggressively pivot its business toward artificial intelligence and high-performance computing (AI/HPC) infrastructure. The fund argues this shift could unlock between $9 billion and $21 billion in value for the Texas-based company and is necessary to avoid it becoming a takeover target.
The push, detailed in a report and a public letter, centers on repurposing Riot's core assets. Starboard highlights that Riot's 1.7 gigawatts of fully available power capacity and its land holdings at sites like Corsicana and Rockdale in Texas provide a "premier" foundation for building data centers to serve the booming AI sector. The fund contends that the electrical and cooling infrastructure required for Bitcoin mining is directly transferable to supporting energy-intensive AI workloads.
"The technical crossover is real," noted Dr. Elena Vance, a data center infrastructure specialist, while also cautioning that entering the enterprise AI market requires entirely new sales and support capabilities that Riot currently lacks.
Starboard's urgency is driven by a competitive race for AI infrastructure and Riot's perceived lag. The fund points out that competitors like Hut 8 and Core Scientific have already begun similar diversification efforts. Starboard, which was Riot's fourth-largest shareholder at the end of 2024, warned that failure to act could leave Riot's undervalued assets ripe for acquisition by a larger technology or infrastructure fund.
Financially, Starboard projects that if Riot can monetize its power in line with recent market transactions, it could generate more than $1.6 billion in annual EBITDA. The fund cited Riot's recent 10-year deal with AMD, projected to yield $311 million, as a positive step but urged for faster, broader action.
The market reacted positively to the news, with Riot Platforms' stock (RIOT) jumping nearly 9% following Starboard's public campaign. The company now faces a critical strategic decision: continue deepening its Bitcoin mining focus or embark on a capital-intensive transformation to become a key player in high-performance computing.
