Cipher Digital Jumps 4% as Barber Lake Lease Extension Lifts Contracted Revenue Past $9B; TeraWulf and Applied Digital Gain 2%

The AI infrastructure trade is moving higher as investors focus on long-term power access and contracted revenue, with Cipher Digital leading a group that includes TeraWulf and Applied Digital. The latest move comes as Cipher Digital’s Barber Lake agreement provides a longer revenue runway, while recent Wall Street coverage has also highlighted the potential for former Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC) miners to convert power assets into AI data-center infrastructure.

Cipher Digital’s Barber Lake Deal Extends Revenue Visibility

Cipher Digital (NASDAQ:CIFR) stock is up 4% to $18.74 as the company’s Barber Lake lease extension puts more attention on its contracted AI infrastructure revenue. The agreement with Fluidstack covers the full 300-megawatt Barber Lake site in Texas, with the lease structure extending to as much as 20 years and roughly $9 billion of potential revenue if the available extensions are exercised.

The Barber Lake arrangement gives Cipher Digital a larger contracted revenue base while reinforcing the company’s shift away from Bitcoin mining and toward high-performance computing infrastructure. Google also provides financial support for Fluidstack’s obligations, adding another layer of credit backing to the project.

Cipher Digital has also been working through the power-access question that has become central to AI data-center development in Texas. ERCOT has issued conditional grid-capacity designations for several Cipher Digital projects, although those designations don’t represent final approval for active hookups, leaving construction, interconnection and delivery timelines as important factors.

UBS Highlights the AI Infrastructure Pivot

Recent coverage from UBS Group (NYSE:UBS | UBS Price Prediction) adds another layer to the sector’s momentum, with UBS initiating coverage on five AI data-center companies and assigning Buy ratings across the group. UBS cited constrained compute supply and access to power as important advantages for companies transitioning from cryptocurrency mining into AI infrastructure.

The UBS coverage includes TeraWulf and Applied Digital alongside Cipher Digital, with the bank estimating that the five companies collectively have roughly 5 gigawatts of leased capacity and another 12 gigawatts of potential expansion. UBS also expects AI infrastructure requirements to grow substantially through the end of the decade, although the companies still face construction, financing and execution risks.

TeraWulf and Applied Digital Join the Move

TeraWulf (NASDAQ:WULF) stock is up 2% to $16.55, while Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) stock is also up 2% to $27.51. Both companies are part of the broader group of former or current digital-asset infrastructure operators seeking to monetize large power positions through AI and high-performance computing customers.

TeraWulf has signed major AI infrastructure agreements, including a long-term arrangement with Anthropic, while Applied Digital has continued developing large-scale data-center capacity for AI workloads. The market response to Cipher Digital’s latest news therefore extends beyond one company, as investors consider whether long-term contracts can make power-rich infrastructure assets more valuable.

AI Infrastructure Stocks Still Face Execution Risks

The broader Global X Data Center & Digital Infrastructure ETF (NASDAQ:DTCR) is up 4% to $29, while the Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) is up 0.49% to $744.70. That gap suggests the data-center infrastructure group is attracting stronger buying interest than the broader technology-heavy index during this session.

A key issue for Cipher Digital, TeraWulf and Applied Digital remains the difference between contracted capacity and operational capacity. Long-term leases can provide substantial revenue visibility, but construction schedules, grid connections, financing requirements and customer delivery milestones still determine when those contracts translate into actual operating revenue.

For Cipher Digital, the Barber Lake extension could give the market another reason to focus on the company’s contracted revenue rather than its legacy mining operations. Investors may want to watch for signs that ERCOT designations progress toward usable power capacity and that Cipher Digital continues meeting its construction milestones, while keeping position sizes modest given the execution risks.

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