Cipher Digital says it has extended the contracted lease life of its Barber Lake data center in Colorado City, Texas from 10 years to 20 years. It amended its existing lease with Fluidstack and entered into a binding commitment with an unnamed "leading AI lab" to lease the facility for a further 10 years after the Fluidstack term ends. Cipher says the follow-on commitment is expected to add about $5.2 billion of contracted revenue, lifting total contracted revenue at the facility from $3.8 billion to over $9 billion. [Source 1] [Source 2]
Evidence: Cipher release dated September 25, 2026 and its 8-K reporting a September 24, 2026 event; earlier Barber Lake disclosures dated September 25, 2025 and November 20, 2025.
Cipher Digital says it has extended the contracted lease life of its Barber Lake data center in Colorado City, Texas from 10 years to 20 years. It amended its existing lease with Fluidstack and entered into a binding commitment with an unnamed "leading AI lab" to lease the facility for a further 10 years after the Fluidstack term ends. Cipher says the follow-on commitment is expected to add about $5.2 billion of contracted revenue, lifting total contracted revenue at the facility from $3.8 billion to over $9 billion. [Source 1] [Source 2]
The 8-K names the parties as Cipher Barber Lake LLC and Fluidstack USA II Inc. It describes the new arrangement as a binding commitment to enter into a ten-year lease, governed by a separate lease with economic terms "substantially consistent" with the Fluidstack lease. The AI lab is not named. Status as of September 25, 2026: the Fluidstack lease is signed and amended; the second tenant has a binding commitment to a future lease. [Source 2]
The amendment sets a phased delivery schedule. Cipher says individual data halls are expected to be delivered between the fourth quarter of 2026 and the first quarter of 2027, with rent starting on each hall as it is delivered. It expects the first rent commencement in Q4 2026. Cipher attributes the phasing to change orders and the continued evolution of tenant requirements. [Source 1] [Source 2]
The amendment also allocates construction overruns. Cipher will bear the first $359.3 million of costs above the initial budget. Beyond that, the tenant will reimburse Cipher for 50% of such costs over the aggregate 20-year term, structured as additional rent. [Source 1] [Source 2]
The September 2026 filings do not restate a megawatt figure. Earlier disclosures give the basis. In September 2025, Cipher reported a 10-year Fluidstack lease for 168 MW of critical IT load, with delivery then targeted for September 2026. [Source 3] In November 2025, it added 39 MW of critical IT load, supported by up to 56 MW of additional gross capacity, targeted by January 2027. Cipher said Fluidstack would then lease "the entire 300 MW of capacity" at Barber Lake; that release does not state the basis of the 300 MW figure. [Source 4]
The two critical IT figures total 207 MW, our arithmetic from those releases. They should not be combined with the 300 MW site figure or the gross capacity figure.
The November 2025 release said Google would backstop an additional $333 million of Fluidstack's lease obligations, bringing its total backstop to $1.73 billion. [Source 4] The reviewed September 2026 filings do not say whether that backstop covers the amended schedule or extends to the follow-on lease.
Cipher's November 2025 release put total partnership value at about $9.0 billion if all extension options were exercised. [Source 4] The new "over $9 billion" total is a contracted figure under the amended structure, according to Cipher. The reviewed filings do not say whether Fluidstack's extension options remain, were modified, or were replaced by the AI lab commitment.
The filings do not disclose rent per MW or per kW, the AI lab's identity, the delivery date of each hall, termination rights, or remedies if halls are late. The earlier September 2026 delivery target has moved into a Q4 2026 to Q1 2027 window.
This is capacity that is committed for up to 20 years across two tenants. It is not open inventory. Its main relevance to other buyers is as evidence of how AI tenants and developers are now splitting schedule and cost risk.
Two terms stand out. Rent starts hall by hall on delivery, so a tenant does not pay for halls that are not ready. And the overrun split puts a defined first loss on the developer before the tenant shares cost. Buyers negotiating large builds can ask for both: phased rent commencement tied to acceptance of each hall, and a stated cap on the provider's pass-through of overruns.
The move from a single September 2026 target to a two-quarter window is also a reminder to write delivery dates, acceptance tests and delay remedies into the lease rather than relying on an announced target.
The September 2026 filings do not name the AI lab or disclose rent, per hall delivery dates, termination rights or delay remedies. They do not say whether Google's backstop covers the amended schedule or the follow-on lease, or what happened to Fluidstack's extension options.
Vertiv announced September 24 that it agreed to acquire King Environmental Services Ltd. (KES), a provider of fluid management, commissioning and load-testing services. Vertiv expects the transaction to close in the fourth quarter of 2026. Financial terms were not disclosed. The announcement establishes an agreement, not a completed acquisition. [1]
Read the analysisFermi says its subsidiary Fermi Campus 1 LLC and TensorWave TEX1, LLC amended their data center lease to move closing from September 30 to October 31, 2026. The company says other lease terms remain unchanged. It is still negotiating a guaranty with an investment-grade counterparty and completing closing conditions. This is an extension of an existing signed agreement, not a new lease or a completed closing. [1]
Read the analysisHost Digital Inc., formerly Healthy Choice Wellness Corp., completed its merger with Host Digital Infrastructure LLC on September 17, 2026. Its Class A stock now trades on NYSE American as HOST. Its only disclosed data center asset is a facility in northeastern Oklahoma leased to a single tenant. [Source 2] [Source 3]
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