# Needham sees AMD-Anthropic deal boosting Riot Platforms leasing prospects > Source: > Published: 2026-07-23 14:23:59+00:00 # Needham sees AMD-Anthropic deal boosting Riot Platforms leasing prospects AMD's $5 billion Anthropic investment could accelerate demand for Riot's data center capacity, prompting Needham to maintain its buy rating on the Bitcoin miner turned AI infrastructure play AMD just committed up to $5 billion to Anthropic along with a massive supply of its next-gen AI chips. And somehow, one of the biggest beneficiaries might be a Bitcoin mining company. Needham analyst John Todaro sees the AMD-Anthropic deal, announced on July 22, as a catalyst for Riot Platforms. The logic is straightforward: more AI chips need more data center space, and Riot happens to have a lot of it. Needham maintained its Buy rating on RIOT and nudged its price target to $28.50. ## The AMD-Anthropic pipeline AMD is supplying up to 2 gigawatts worth of its Instinct MI450 AI accelerators to Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI model. Riot Platforms already has a relationship with AMD. Back in January 2026, Riot signed a data center lease with AMD at its Rockdale, Texas facility. The initial agreement covered 25 megawatts of capacity, with room to scale up to 200 megawatts. The initial deal alone is projected to generate roughly $311 million in revenue for Riot. If the full expansion plays out, that number could approach $1 billion. Todaro’s thesis is that AMD’s deepening commitment to AI infrastructure through the Anthropic partnership raises the odds that AMD will need even more data center capacity, and fast. Riot, which already has the land and the existing relationship, is well-positioned to capture that demand. ## From Bitcoin miner to AI landlord In January 2026, Riot acquired a 200-acre site in Rockdale for approximately $96 million. To fund part of that acquisition, Riot sold roughly 1,080 BTC. Needham initially raised its price target for Riot from $28 to $30 back on January 20, when the AMD lease was first announced. The current $28.50 target reflects some recalibration, but the Buy rating has remained consistent throughout. ## What this means for crypto investors For investors holding RIOT as a Bitcoin proxy, the AI leasing business introduces a different risk profile entirely. Contracted data center revenue is closer to a utility-style income stream than the boom-and-bust cycle of crypto mining. What investors should watch next is whether AMD exercises expansion options at Rockdale and how quickly Riot can bring additional capacity online. The gap between a $311 million initial contract and a potential $1 billion total value is where the real upside lives. **Disclosure:** This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our [Editorial Policy](https://cryptobriefing.com/editorial-policy/).