Cipher Mining to Raise $2 Billion for Texas Data Center Leased to Amazon
February 6, 2026
The financing landscape for large-scale data center projects is evolving rapidly, with developers increasingly turning to capital markets to fund the massive infrastructure required for artificial intelligence and cloud computing. This trend underscores the intense capital demands of the sector as it races to keep pace with explosive demand. Cipher Mining, a company that has pivoted from cryptocurrency mining to high-performance computing infrastructure development, announced plans to raise $2 billion through a senior secured notes offering. The proceeds are earmarked to complete the construction of its 300-megawatt Black Pearl data center campus in Wink, Texas. The five-year notes, which are due in 2031, have attracted significant investor interest, reportedly receiving $13 billion in orders with a yield set at 6.125 percent. A substantial portion of the new capital, approximately $232.5 million, will be used to reimburse Cipher for its prior investments in the site. The remaining funds will cover the remaining development costs, establish debt service reserves, and pay associated fees. The Black Pearl facility, originally conceived as a cryptocurrency mining operation, has been repurposed to support AI workloads. The project's financial viability is anchored by a major, long-term tenant. The entire site is planned to be leased to Amazon Web Services (AWS) for a minimum of 15 years. This lease is part of a broader, multi-site agreement between Cipher and AWS valued at $5.5 billion. In a separate deal that further validates Cipher's strategic shift, the company has also secured AI cloud firm Fluidstack as a customer, an arrangement backed by an investment from Google. The successful bond offering, following a $1.7 billion notes sale by Cipher in November 2025 with a 7.125 percent coupon, signals strong institutional confidence in data center assets with contracted hyperscale revenue. It highlights a growing model where specialized developers secure pre-committed tenants like AWS to de-risk projects and attract lower-cost debt, thereby accelerating the expansion of critical digital infrastructure needed to power the next generation of computing.
Source: datacenterdynamics
