Cipher Stock Soars 16% on $5.5 Billion AWS Lease to Accelerate AI Expansion
Cipher Mining (NASDAQ: CIFR) shares surged 16% in pre-market trading on Monday after the company announced a $5.5 billion lease agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to accelerate its AI push.
Cipher said in a release that the 15-year contract is to provide data center space and power for artificial intelligence workloads. The deal was unveiled alongside Cipher’s third-quarter earnings update, marking the latest expansion of its high-performance computing business beyond Bitcoin mining.
Under the agreement, Cipher will deliver 300 megawatts (MW) of capacity to AWS in 2026, equipped with both air- and liquid-cooled infrastructure. The project will be completed in two phases, beginning in July 2026 and concluding in the fourth quarter of that year, with lease payments starting in August.
The AWS contract follows Cipher’s earlier partnership with Fluidstack and Google, announced in September. Combined, Cipher said its AI hosting contracts now total roughly $8.5 billion in lease commitments.
Cipher also unveiled plans for a new 1-gigawatt (GW) development in West Texas called “Colchis.” The company said it will hold about 95% equity ownership in the project under standard lease terms. The 620-acre site, adjacent to an existing substation, has a fully executed 1-GW Direct Connect Agreement with American Electric Power (AEP), which will build a dual interconnection facility targeted for energization in 2028.
Cipher reported a third-quarter net loss of $3 million, or $0.01 per share, with adjusted earnings of $41 million, or $0.10 per diluted share. The company highlighted its strengthened balance sheet following a $1.3 billion convertible note offering and a growing development pipeline now totaling 3.2 GW of capacity.
Cipher’s announcement also coincided with fellow bitcoin miner IREN securing a $9.7 billion hardware contract with Microsoft, which fueled a similar 20% rally during pre-market trading hours on Monday.
