Hut 8 Corp. (NASDAQ:HUT) shares climbed 25.4% in premarket trading on Wednesday after the energy infrastructure firm announced a long-term data center leasing agreement valued at $7 billion with Fluidstack. The 15-year deal covers 245 megawatts of IT capacity at Hut 8’s River Bend data center campus in Louisiana.
The agreement is supported by a financial guarantee from Google, which will cover lease payments and related obligations throughout the full base term. Hut 8 said the contract is expected to generate approximately $6.9 billion in net operating income over the initial 15-year period. The deal also includes three optional five-year extensions, which could lift the total contract value to about $17.7 billion if fully exercised.
To support delivery of the project, Hut 8 is deploying what it calls an institutional-grade execution framework alongside major partners including Entergy (NYSE:ETR), J.P. Morgan (NYSE:JPM), Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), Vertiv (NYSE:VRT), and Jacobs (NYSE:J). J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs are expected to provide project-level financing covering up to 85% of total project costs, subject to final agreements.
“River Bend reflects the strength of Hut 8’s power-first, innovation-driven development model, validated by the world-class counterparties we are executing alongside,” said Asher Genoot, CEO of Hut 8.
Construction of the initial data hall at the River Bend campus is scheduled to be completed in the second quarter of 2027, with additional data halls expected to come online over the remainder of the year. Under the terms of the agreement, Fluidstack has also secured a Right of First Offer for up to an additional 1,000 megawatts of IT capacity across future expansion phases at the site.
At the height of construction activity, the River Bend project is expected to support around 1,000 workers and create at least 265 direct and indirect jobs once the facility becomes operational.