Investing.com -- Riot Platforms is positioning itself for a pivot into high-performance computing (HPC), and analysts at Needham&Company believe the company’s Corsicana facility in Texas could be a game-changer.
In a note on Tuesday, Needham reiterated a Buy rating on Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:RIOT) and raised its price target to $15 from $12, citing what it called a “major opportunity” at the Corsicana site.
“We believe Riot’s Corsicana site is one of the most attractive HPC sites in our universe,” analysts wrote, highlighting the site’s scale, infrastructure, and strategic location.
Corsicana is situated near Dallas and boasts over 630 acres, water access, and ample fiber connectivity. Needham explained that the site is being developed to host up to 1 gigawatt of capacity, with ~440 megawatts of critical IT load.
Recent industry checks are said to suggest growing demand for HPC infrastructure, particularly for AI inference workloads, which require ultra-low latency.
“More than half of demand is for inference workloads (and growing),” Needham noted, adding that these workloads typically require sub-5 millisecond round-trip latency to the nearest major city.
Management is “laser focused” on transitioning Riot’s business toward HPC, according to Needham.
While the firm does not currently model a lease in its valuation, it expects “advanced discussions with prospective tenants in 2H ’25,” and said a potential lease by 1H ’26 could contribute “$12–16 in share price.”
Needham concluded, “We are not modeling a Corsicana lease at this time, but raise our PT to $15 on a higher multiple.”