Investment expected to increase long-term system capacity alongside development of River Bend AI data center campus

BATON ROUGE, La., May 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Hut 8 Corp. ((Nasdaq, TSX:HUT) ("Hut 8" or the "Company"), an energy infrastructure platform integrating power, digital infrastructure, and compute at scale to fuel next-generation, energy-intensive use cases, today announced an agreement with West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, to invest approximately $16 million to expand local water system capacity in connection with the development of its River Bend AI data center campus. The investment includes the construction of a new water well, approximately eight miles of water main, and other system enhancements, which will be transferred to the parish upon completion, expected in the second half of 2026, at no cost to taxpayers.

These improvements are expected to expand system capacity and reliability across West Feliciana Parish, with the potential to benefit more than 4,000 households and more than 200 employer establishments, based on U.S. Census Bureau data¹. The investment aligns with broader efforts across Louisiana to strengthen water infrastructure, including the state's $750 million Water Sector Program, established to fund repairs and upgrades to community water systems. By expanding core system capacity through private investment, the project is also expected to help preserve public funding capacity for other infrastructure priorities across the parish.

The River Bend campus is expected to deliver significant economic impact to the Capital Region. Phase 1 alone represents a multibillion-dollar capital investment, ranking among the largest planned private infrastructure projects in the state's history. At peak construction, Hut 8 anticipates approximately 1,000 construction workers on-site. Once operational, Phase 1 is expected to support at least 75 direct permanent jobs and approximately 193 indirect jobs, or 268 jobs in total.

At River Bend, Hut 8 is expanding the local water system while designing its facilities to minimize demand on it. The campus will use a closed loop cooling system that significantly reduces ongoing water requirements and relies on water outside the residential aquifer, with no impact to the local water supply.

Asher Genoot, Chief Executive Officer of Hut 8, said: "We build infrastructure for communities, not just for ourselves. At River Bend, that means strengthening the water system the parish depends on rather than straining it. As the United States scales AI infrastructure, we believe this approach will set the standard for how AI infrastructure is developed in communities across the country."

Kenny Havard, Parish President of West Feliciana Parish, said: "This is a real investment in the infrastructure our parish needs. It will strengthen our water system and expand service in areas that need it most without adding cost for our residents. It puts us in a position to handle future growth in the right way while protecting the resources our community depends on."

The River Bend campus is part of Hut 8's integrated North American energy and digital infrastructure platform, developed in partnership with public and private sector stakeholders.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 5-Year Estimates, Table DP02, and County Business Patterns 2023, Table CB2300CBP

About Hut 8

Hut 8 is an energy infrastructure platform integrating power, digital infrastructure, and compute at scale to fuel next-generation, energy-intensive technologies such as AI, high-performance computing, and ASIC compute. The Company develops, commercializes, and operates industrial-scale energy and data center infrastructure through a power-first, innovation-driven approach. For more information, visit hut8.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This press release includes "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities laws and United States securities laws, respectively (collectively, "forward-looking information"). All information, other than statements of historical facts, included in this press release that address activities, events, or developments that Hut 8 expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including statements relating to the terms, value, features and expected benefits of the water infrastructure investment, including the expected completion and timing of the infrastructure improvements, the expected system capacity, impact and benefits to West Feliciana Parish and the Capital Region of Hut 8's water infrastructure investment and the River Bend project, Hut 8's potential expansion plans for the River Bend site, the Company's development pipeline, and the Company's future business strategy, competitive strengths, expansion, and growth of the business and operations more generally, and other such matters is forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is often identified by the words "may," "would," "could," "should," "will," "intend," "plan," "anticipate," "allow," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "predict," "can," "might," "potential," "is designed to," "likely," or similar expressions.

Statements containing forward-looking information are not historical facts, but instead represent management's expectations, estimates, and projections regarding future events based on certain material factors and assumptions at the time the statement was made. While considered reasonable by Hut 8 as of the date of this press release, such statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance, or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including, but not limited to, risks relating to the construction of new data centers, including cost overruns, delays, supply chain issues, permitting or regulatory hurdles, unexpected technical challenges, and dependency on contractors; risks relating to the financing of new data centers, including the potential dilutive impact of equity issuances (if any), access to capital markets, timing and cost of financing, and market conditions such as increases in interest rates, declining equity valuations, volatility in credit markets, or tightening lending standards; risks impacting our ability to expand the power capacity at the River Bend campus, such as limitations of transmission and/or generation resources; failure of critical systems; geopolitical, social, economic, and other events and circumstances; competition from current and future competitors; risks related to power requirements; cybersecurity threats and breaches; hazards and operational risks; changes in leasing arrangements; Internet-related disruptions; dependence on key personnel; having a limited operating history; attracting and retaining customers; entering into new offerings or lines of business; price fluctuations and rapidly changing technologies; predicting facility requirements; strategic alliances or joint ventures; operating and expanding internationally; failing to grow hashrate; purchasing miners; relying on third-party mining pool service providers; uncertainty in the development and acceptance of the Bitcoin network; Bitcoin halving events; competition from other methods of investing in Bitcoin; concentration of Bitcoin holdings; hedging transactions; potential liquidity constraints; legal, regulatory, governmental, and technological uncertainties; physical risks related to climate change; involvement in legal proceedings; trading volatility; and other risks described from time to time in Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In particular, see the Company's recent and upcoming annual and quarterly reports and other continuous disclosure documents, which are available under the Company's EDGAR profile at sec.gov and SEDAR+ profile at sedarplus.ca.

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SOURCE Hut 8 Corp.

Hut 8 Commits $16 Million to Expand Water Infrastructure in West Feliciana Parish