Hut 8 Commercializes First Phase of 1 GW Beacon Point AI Data Center Campus with 15-Year, 352 MW IT Lease with Base-Term Contract Value of $9.8 Billion

Triple-net lease with high-investment-grade tenant valued at up to $25.1 billion if all renewal options are exercised

Transaction expands Hut 8's total contracted AI data center capacity to 597 MW with aggregate base-term contract value of approximately $16.8 billion

Hut 8 to deliver a 352 MW AI factory designed to NVIDIA's DSX reference architecture for gigawatt-scale AI infrastructure

Executed under Hut 8's repeatable delivery model with Tier 1 counterparties: American Electric Power (Nasdaq: AEP), Vertiv Holdings Co (NYSE: VRT), and Jacobs (NYSE: J)

MIAMI, May 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Hut 8 Corp. (Nasdaq, TSX: HUT) ("Hut 8" or the "Company"), an energy infrastructure platform integrating power, digital infrastructure, and compute at scale to fuel next-generation, energy-intensive technologies, today announced the commercialization of the first phase of its Beacon Point data center campus in Nueces County, Texas through a 15-year, $9.8 billion lease (the "Agreement") for 352 megawatts (MW) of IT capacity (the "Transaction"). The tenant, a high-investment-grade company, will deploy dedicated compute infrastructure at the campus to support AI training and inference workloads at hyperscale.

Beacon Point is the second AI data center campus commercialized under the Company's power-first, greenfield development model following River Bend. Hut 8 has executed an interconnection agreement for 1,000 MW of utility capacity, with initial energization expected in Q1 2027. As with River Bend, Hut 8 identified and secured the site through its power-first approach and subsequently commercialized it through a hyperscale AI lease. The Beacon Point transaction brings Hut 8's total contracted AI data center capacity to 597 MW of IT capacity with aggregate base-term contract value of approximately $16.8 billion and aggregate average annual NOI to approximately $1.1 billion.

Transaction Highlights

• Lease Structure: Triple net (NNN) lease.
• Tenant Profile: Confidential, high-investment-grade company.
• Compute Architecture: Hut 8 to deliver a 352 MW AI factory designed to NVIDIA's DSX reference architecture for gigawatt-scale AI infrastructure.
• Base-Term Contract Value: Total contract value of $9.8 billion over a 15-year base lease term, inclusive of a 3.0% annual base rent escalator.
• NOI Contribution: Expected cumulative NOI contribution of $9.8 billion over the base lease term, translating to an expected average annual NOI contribution of $655 million upon stabilization.
• Upside Economics: Three 5-year renewal options increase potential contract value to approximately $25.1 billion assuming all three options are exercised.
• Delivery Timeline: Initial data hall delivery expected in Q3 2027.
• Project-level Financing: Hut 8 intends to support the development of Beacon Point with project-level financing that aims to optimize cost of capital at the asset level while maintaining disciplined long-term leverage metrics at the corporate level.
• Campus Scalability: 1,000 MW of utility capacity with initial energization expected in Q1 2027.
• Commercial Potential: The lease for 352 MW of IT capacity, requiring approximately 500 MW of utility capacity, represents the first phase of commercialization at a campus designed to support up to 1,000 MW of utility capacity, providing significant runway for potential campus expansion and revenue growth.

Power-First Underwriting and the First Phase of Value Creation

Beacon Point exemplifies Hut 8's power-first development model and the value creation it enables across the asset lifecycle. Originally underwritten on a speed-to-power thesis to serve Hut 8's affiliated customer, American Bitcoin Corp. ("ABTC"), the site was repositioned to AI infrastructure as power demand accelerated and customer requirements broadened. Hut 8 transitioned Beacon Point from its original commercialization pathway with ABTC to deliver an AI data center campus with contracted, investment-grade cash flows, marking the first phase of asset-level value creation at the campus.

Asher Genoot, CEO of Hut 8, said: "Beacon Point underscores why we start with power and maintain flexibility across end markets. Operating across multiple applications lets us underwrite assets that single-use-case developers cannot, then redirect them toward higher-value commercialization pathways as demand evolves. This flexibility is intentional, and it is embedded in how we underwrite, develop, and commercialize infrastructure."

First-Principles Engineering and the Second Phase of Value Creation

Beacon Point also exemplifies Hut 8's first-principles engineering approach and the value creation it enables as technology applications evolve. Following the repositioning of the campus to AI, the first data hall was scoped for 224 MW of IT capacity, sized to the chip architectures commercially deployed at the time. As NVIDIA's DSX reference architecture advanced toward commercial deployment with materially higher rack-level power densities, Hut 8 redesigned the data hall to support a 352 MW AI factory, a 57% increase over the initial design, within the same land and utility footprint.

Scalable, Partnership-Driven Execution Model

Hut 8 is developing Beacon Point through a partnership-driven execution model first implemented at its River Bend campus. The model is structured to mitigate risk across the project lifecycle by aligning Tier 1 partners to defined roles across technology, engineering and construction, and critical systems delivery.

Asher Genoot, CEO of Hut 8, said: "This transaction commercializes the first building of our newest gigawatt-scale campus and marks our second AI data center lease. More importantly, it demonstrates that our development model, which pairs power-first underwriting with disciplined commercialization and institutional execution, is repeatable and extendable across our broader pipeline."

NVIDIA is engaged as technology partner, with Phase 1 of the campus engineered to NVIDIA's DSX reference architecture for gigawatt-scale AI factories. Jacobs, a global scienced-based consulting and advisory firm, is retained as EPCM (Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management) lead, working alongside Vertiv in its role supporting critical digital infrastructure systems.

Bob Pragada, Chair and CEO of Jacobs, said: "Beacon Point underscores the strength of our partnership with Hut 8 and the discipline required to deliver AI infrastructure with speed, safety, and certainty. Building on our work together at River Bend, we are applying our EPCM leadership and advanced digital twin technology to set the benchmark for AI infrastructure deployment, optimization, and resiliency."

Giordano Albertazzi, CEO of Vertiv, said: "Next generation AI infrastructure will be defined by how quickly power can be converted into AI capacity. Partnering with Hut 8 aligns with Vertiv's systems-level approach to converged physical infrastructure —  bringing power, cooling, and deployment execution at scale. At Beacon Point, we are applying Vertiv's global manufacturing depth, supply chain discipline, engineering expertise, and critical digital infrastructure portfolio to help deliver AI capacity with speed, reliability, and long-term performance."

Utility and Regional Partnerships

Hut 8 is developing the Beacon Point campus in collaboration with key Texas stakeholders, including AEP Texas, a subsidiary of American Electric Power (AEP), and the Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corporation (CCREDC). Hut 8 and AEP Texas have executed an interconnection agreement for 1,000 MW of utility capacity for the campus, with initial energization expected in Q1 2027.

Hut 8 brings a long operating history in Texas and extensive experience working within ERCOT across large-load applications. This experience has enabled the Company to advance complex infrastructure projects by navigating market dynamics, interconnection processes, and transmission and system upgrade requirements while maintaining disciplined development and execution timelines.

Aaron Bowman, CEO of CCREDC, said: "Beacon Point reflects the type of long-term investment that supports durable growth in the Coastal Bend economy. Hut 8's focus on power infrastructure and disciplined execution aligns with the region's assets and workforce capabilities, and we are pleased to support the advancement of this campus in Nueces County."

Development Pipeline Update

The Transaction advances 500 MW of utility capacity from Energy Capacity Under Development to Energy Capacity Under Construction. An additional 500 MW of utility capacity from Beacon Point remains within Energy Capacity Under Development.  

Hut 8 continues to advance opportunities across a broader pipeline spanning 7,545 MW of Energy Capacity Under Diligence, Exclusivity, and Development, applying the same power-first underwriting framework and institutional execution model demonstrated at River Bend and Beacon Point.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release includes a non-GAAP financial measure, expected net operating income (NOI) contribution, which the Company defines as expected lease revenue for a particular lease less any non-reimbursable operating expenses attributable to the leased property. The Company's management team uses expected NOI contribution to measure the expected operating performance of a particular lease. Operating income is the GAAP measure most directly comparable to expected NOI contribution. In evaluating expected NOI contribution, you should be aware that in the future the Company may incur non-reimbursable lease operating expenses that are not currently known. The Company's presentation of expected NOI contribution should not be construed as an inference that its future results will be unaffected by unusual or non-recurring items. Expected NOI contribution has important limitations as an analytical tool and you should not consider expected NOI contribution in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of results as reported under GAAP. For example, expected NOI contribution excludes the impact of selling, general and administrative expenses and depreciation and amortization, which have real economic effect and could materially impact the Company's consolidated financial results. Other companies, including Real Estate Investment Trusts, may calculate expected NOI contribution differently than the Company does and, accordingly, the Company's expected NOI contribution may not be comparable to similar measures published by such companies. No reconciliation of expected NOI contribution is included in this press release because the Company is unable to quantify certain amounts that would be required to be included in operating income without unreasonable efforts as such quantification would imply a degree of precision that would be confusing or misleading to investors.

Additional Transaction Information and Upcoming Communications

Hut 8 has made available on its website an investor presentation with further details regarding the Transaction.

For important news and information regarding the Company, including investor presentations and timing of future investor conferences, visit the Investor Relations section of the Company's website, hut8.com/investors, and its social media accounts, including on X and LinkedIn. The Company uses its website and social media accounts as primary channels for disclosing key information to its investors, some of which may contain material and previously non-public information.

About Hut 8

Hut 8 is an energy infrastructure platform integrating power, digital infrastructure, and compute at scale to fuel next-generation, energy-intensive technologies such as AI, high-performance computing, and ASIC compute. The Company develops, commercializes, and operates industrial-scale energy and data center infrastructure through a power-first, innovation-driven approach. For more information, visit hut8.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This press release includes "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities laws and United States securities laws, respectively (collectively, "forward-looking information"). All information, other than statements of historical facts, included in this press release that address activities, events, or developments that Hut 8 expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including statements relating to the terms, value, and expected benefits of the Transaction and the Agreement, including expected contract value, NOI contribution, and potential value from renewal options, the timing of development, construction, energization, and delivery of the Beacon Point campus, the Company's plans with respect to project-level financing, the expected capacity, scalability, and potential future expansion of the campus, the Company's development pipeline, and the Company's future business strategy, competitive strengths, expansion, and growth of the business and operations more generally, and other such matters is forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is often identified by the words "may", "would", "could", "should", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "allow", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "predict", "can", "might", "potential", "is designed to", "likely," or similar expressions.

Statements containing forward-looking information are not historical facts, but instead represent management's expectations, estimates, and projections regarding future events based on certain material factors and assumptions at the time the statement was made. While considered reasonable by Hut 8 as of the date of this press release, such statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance, or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including, but not limited to, risks relating to the construction of new data centers, including cost overruns, delays, supply chain issues, permitting or regulatory hurdles, unexpected technical challenges, and dependency on contractors; risks relating to the financing of new data centers, including the potential dilutive impact of equity issuances (if any), access to capital markets, timing and cost of financing, and market conditions such as increases in interest rates, declining equity valuations, volatility in credit markets, or tightening lending standards; risks impacting our ability to expand the power capacity at the River Bend campus, such as limitations of transmission and/or generation resources; failure of critical systems; geopolitical, social, economic, and other events and circumstances; competition from current and future competitors; risks related to power requirements; cybersecurity threats and breaches; hazards and operational risks; changes in leasing arrangements; Internet-related disruptions; dependence on key personnel; having a limited operating history; attracting and retaining customers; entering into new offerings or lines of business; price fluctuations and rapidly changing technologies; predicting facility requirements; strategic alliances or joint ventures; operating and expanding internationally; failing to grow hashrate; purchasing miners; relying on third-party mining pool service providers; uncertainty in the development and acceptance of the Bitcoin network; Bitcoin halving events; competition from other methods of investing in Bitcoin; concentration of Bitcoin holdings; hedging transactions; potential liquidity constraints; legal, regulatory, governmental, and technological uncertainties; physical risks related to climate change; involvement in legal proceedings; trading volatility; and other risks described from time to time in Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In particular, see the Company's recent and upcoming annual and quarterly reports and other continuous disclosure documents, which are available under the Company's EDGAR profile at sec.gov and SEDAR+ profile at sedarplus.ca.

SOURCE Hut 8 Corp.