Cipher Digital's Revenue Plunges, but Its AI Data Center Ambitions Are Growing

Cipher Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:CIFR) stock edged lower in Monday’s premarket trading after the data center developer reported third-quarter 2026 results that missed Wall Street’s revenue expectations.

Revenue fell 62.8% year over year to $26.701 million, missing the $38.473 million analyst estimate.

Diluted loss per share came in at 22 cents, in line with analyst expectations.

Revenue Declines As HPC Leasing Begins

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) mining revenue dropped to $20.849 million from $71.707 million a year earlier.

Meanwhile, high-performance computing (HPC) leasing generated $5.852 million in revenue. This marked Cipher’s first HPC lease revenue after rental payments began at its Black Pearl facility.

The company expects additional data halls at Black Pearl and Barber Lake to come online through year-end.

Cipher also extended its Barber Lake lease to 20 years through an agreement with a leading AI lab. The amendment increased total contracted revenue to approximately $9.1 billion, adding about $5.2 billion in rental commitments.

Operating Loss Widens, Debt Rises

Operating loss widened to $71.915 million from $37.617 million a year earlier.

Adjusted EBITDA swung to a loss of $9.963 million from a profit of $40.790 million.

However, Cipher reported net income of $31.596 million, compared with a $3.283 million loss a year earlier.

The results included a $127.180 million noncash gain from changes in the fair value of its warrant liability. Interest expense climbed to $58.994 million from $1.286 million.

Cash and cash equivalents stood at $656.009 million as of Sept. 30, compared with $628.263 million at the end of 2025.

Long-term borrowings rose to $5.447 billion from $2.712 billion over the same period.

Cipher completed an $850 million offering of zero-coupon convertible senior notes due in 2032 to support additional investment in Barber Lake.

It also converted approximately $165.9 million of its 1.75% convertible notes due in 2030 into equity, retiring more than 90% of those notes.

AI Infrastructure Pipeline Reaches 5.9 GW

Cipher received a conditional base load classification for 1 gigawatt at its Colchis site through Texas grid operator ERCOT’s Batch Zero process.

It also secured conditional studied load classifications for another 1.6 gigawatts.

Additionally, the company began developing natural gas pipelines to support up to 2.5 gigawatts of potential on-site power generation.

Cipher acquired Horizon, a 70-megawatt Texas site expected to receive power in 2029.

Its development pipeline now totals approximately 5.9 gigawatts, including 270 megawatts of capacity available in 2027.

CEO Tyler Page said growing demand for computing power and deeper relationships with hyperscalers and AI companies are supporting Cipher’s expansion.

He added that the company is investing earlier in development projects and advancing design work before signing new leases to prepare for future growth.

CIFR Price Action: Cipher Digital shares were down 0.82% at $7.220 during premarket trading on Monday after closing down 10% on Friday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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