AZIO AI signs first hosting deal at Atlas One

Initial 10 MW deployment expected to generate approximately $90 million in capacity reservation charges over the 60-month initial term, before electricity sales; the $450 million figure assumes full exercise of expansion rights to 50 MW, which has not occurred HOUSTON, Oct. 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via IBN -- AZIO AI Holdings, Inc.

(Nasdaq: AZIO) ("AZIO AI" or the "Company") today announced that it has entered into a Power Purchase and Hosting Agreement (the "Agreement") with Power Champion Investment Limited ("Power Champion") covering power delivery, leased facility space and interconnectivity services at Atlas One, the Company's South Texas compute infrastructure campus.

The Agreement establishes an initial contracted capacity of 10 megawatts ("MW" and such capacity, the "Initial Contracted Capacity"), with contractual expansion rights of up to a maximum contracted capacity of 50 MW (the "Maximum Contracted Capacity"), subject to the completion of required infrastructure improvements and other conditions described below. The approximately $450 million figure referenced in the headline of this release represents capacity reservation charges that would be payable only if Power Champion exercises its expansion rights in full to the Maximum Contracted Capacity, all required infrastructure is completed and all such capacity is energized.

As of the date of this release, the parties have committed to only the Initial Contracted Capacity under the Agreement, no capacity has been energized under the Agreement, and no expansion right has been exercised. The Agreement is the first hosting agreement executed at Atlas One. In an Aug. 27, 2026, announcement, the Company disclosed that it was in discussions with Power Champion regarding potential hosting at the campus and that no agreement had been entered into.

The Agreement concludes those discussions. The Agreement does not amend, replace, or supersede the power purchase and hosting agreement with Power Champion announced on July 9, 2026. The Initial Contracted Capacity, Maximum Contracted Capacity, capacity reservation charges, and energy rates described in this release relate solely to the Agreement and to Atlas One. Under the Agreement, AZIO AI will serve as Power Champion's exclusive power supplier at the leased premises and will provide hosting, interconnectivity, and related infrastructure services supporting Power Champion's deployment of AI GPU processors and associated advanced computing equipment.

Key Commercial Terms - Contracted Capacity. Initial Contracted Capacity of 10 MW, with the right to request increases up to a Maximum Contracted Capacity of 50 MW -- subject to available capacity at the facility, completion of required infrastructure improvements, execution of an amendment, and the Company's written confirmation that site infrastructure can support the increase. - Capacity Reservation Charge. 00 per kilowatts (kW) per month of contracted capacity actually delivered and made available under the Agreement.

Power Champion is not obligated to pay reservation charges on capacity that has not been energized. - Energy. 13 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for metered consumption during the Initial Term (as defined below), plus pass-through utility, transmission, regulatory, and tax charges billed at cost without markup. Energy charges are additional to, and not included in, the capacity reservation figures described in this release.

- Term. Initial term of sixty (60) months (the "Initial Term") from the date on which the Company notifies Power Champion that the Initial Contracted Capacity is energized and available (the "Commencement Date"), with automatic successive twelve-month renewal terms absent notice of non-renewal 90 days prior to the expiration of the applicable renewal term. - Phased delivery. Capacity will be energized in phases.

Achievement of Phase 1 -- delivery of at least the 10 Initial Contracted Capacity -- establishes the Commencement Date. - Cost allocation. AZIO AI will fund site qualification work -- including interconnection, substation, primary distribution, and backbone fiber -- at its own cost and will retain ownership of those improvements. Power Champion will fund the customer-specific build-out serving its load, which will be installed as property of AZIO AI and remain at the facility following expiration or termination.

- Availability. 9% annualized power availability commitment, subject to customary exclusions, with service credits as the exclusive remedy. 5 million per month, or approximately $90 million in capacity reservation charges over the Initial Term, before electricity sales and additional infrastructure services. If Power Champion were to exercise its expansion rights in full to the Maximum Contracted Capacity and all required infrastructure were completed, the Company estimates capacity reservation charges could total approximately $450 million over the Initial Term, before electricity sales and additional infrastructure services.

Capacity reservation charges are payable only on capacity actually delivered and made available. No assurance can be given that any expansion rights will be exercised, that any capacity beyond the initial phase will be energized, or that the Company will realize any portion of these amounts. Additional terms of the Agreement will be described in a Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Atlas One -- Current Capacity Position Announced on Aug.

20, 2026, Atlas One spans more than 548 acres in South Texas and is engineered for up to 500 MW of planned behind-the-meter power capacity, developed under the Company's Project Atlas initiative. Approximately 11 MW of that planned capacity has been secured to date, of which approximately 6 MW is activated. The balance of the campus's planned capacity -- including the capacity required to serve the full Initial Contracted Capacity under the Agreement and any expansion beyond it -- is planned capacity that will require additional generation, equipment, permitting, financing, and customer commitments.

The Company has not completed the site qualification work necessary to deliver the initial Contracted Capacity and has not established a Commencement Date. 1 of the Agreement, the Company retains the right to deliver the contracted capacity at an alternative site of comparable size, capacity and energy rate, and the parties may relocate the facility by mutual written agreement. S. export control approvals.

S. S. Export Administration Regulations and other applicable regulatory frameworks. The Company has no obligation to proceed with construction, energization, or service commencement until Power Champion provides written evidence of those approvals.

If any required approval is denied or revoked, either party may terminate without liability. - 180-day due diligence period. Power Champion may terminate during this period following the date of the Agreement only if a qualified third-party engineering assessment, obtained at its expense, concludes the facility cannot be made capable of delivering the Initial Contracted Capacity through commercially reasonable site qualification work. - Documentation still to be completed.

A separate lease agreement, the customer build-out scope and budget, the detailed delivery milestone schedule, and the final deposit amounts remain subject to further written agreement between the parties. Relationship to the Previously Announced GPU Pipeline Power Champion is also the counterparty to the Company's previously announced agreement covering the purchase of up to 512 NVIDIA HGX B300 systems, which the Company has characterized as estimated sales pipeline value and not as backlog, contracted amounts, orders, or revenue.

The Agreement does not obligate Power Champion to deploy any of those systems at Atlas One, and the deployment location for any systems purchased has not been determined. The capacity contracted under the Agreement and the GPU sales pipeline measure different things and are not additive. Management Commentary "On August 27 we told the market we were in discussions with Power Champion about hosting at Atlas One, and that we would announce an agreement if we reached one," said Chris Young, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of AZIO AI. "This is that agreement.

" "Power is the constraint on AI. " "Ten megawatts is what Power Champion has contracted for today. Fifty megawatts is the ceiling the agreement allows them to grow into, and getting there depends on generation, permitting, capital and their own export approvals -- none of which we take for granted. " About AZIO AI Holdings, Inc.

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