Hut 8 Shares Rise 33% After $9.8B AI Lease, $253M Loss

Hut 8’s stock climbed 33% after the company reported a first-quarter 2026 net loss exceeding $253 million and announced a 15-year lease valued at $9.8 billion to provide 352 megawatts of capacity to a third-party AI customer. The market reaction occurred Wednesday.

Hut 8 attributed the accounting loss to a decline in the market value of its Bitcoin holdings, which fell from above $126,000 per coin in October to about $60,000 in February. The company said the loss was tied to valuation changes rather than cash operating shortfalls.

Quarterly revenue totaled about $71 million, down roughly 22% from $88.4 million in the prior period and below analysts’ consensus of $78.5 million. Hut 8 reported $66.0 million in first-quarter revenue from ASIC compute, AI cloud and traditional cloud services.

Under the lease, Hut 8 will supply 352 megawatts of capacity over 15 years to the AI customer. The agreement carries a total contract value of $9.8 billion and establishes a multiyear contracted revenue stream for the company.

Public crypto-mining firms have been adding AI hosting and energy services as mining revenues compress. The two sectors compete for large, reliable power supplies needed to run high-performance computing.

Ran Neuner, a crypto market analyst, observed, “Both industries compete for the same thing: electricity,” adding, “right now, AI is willing to pay much more for it.” He warned that a shift from mining to AI work could reduce the computing power securing the Bitcoin blockchain.

The need for steady, large-scale power has led several hyperscale cloud and AI operators to secure long-term nuclear energy contracts since 2024 to support their infrastructure.

Hut 8’s disclosures show the company is generating material revenue from non-mining operations while its cryptocurrency holdings remain volatile. Shares rose after the lease announcement even as the company recorded the quarterly write-down.