New superintelligence factory planned in Hopkinsville, Kentucky; DarkHorse-funded 65 MW substation on TVA's 161 kV system will be owned by HES and strengthen service for Hopkinsville residents

Wilmington, Delaware--(Newsfile Corp. - October 6, 2026) - DarkHorse Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: DRK) ("DarkHorse" or the "Company") today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Pennyrile Holdings, LLC, has signed a power contract with the Electric Plant Board of Hopkinsville, Kentucky ("Hopkinsville Electric System" or "HES"). The agreement provides for up to 50 MW of power for a new superintelligence factory in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, doubling DarkHorse's contracted power in the TVA region to approximately 100 MW. The agreement follows the September 8, 2026 strategic review that resulted in the TVA region becoming the focus of DarkHorse's superintelligence factory development; the new Hopkinsville facility is the first project advanced under that approach.

"This agreement is another important step in executing DarkHorse's growth strategy," said Joel Block, Chief Executive Officer of DarkHorse. "We greatly appreciate HES giving us the opportunity to expand our business in their community, and we wanted to do it in a way that leaves the entire community better off. We're funding a substation that strengthens power for every customer on the system, not just our site. We are rapidly expanding our power portfolio while advancing the conversion of our existing sites to AI and HPC workloads. With approximately 100 MW now under contract in the TVA region and a growing pipeline of additional opportunities, we believe we are building a scalable platform positioned to support the next generation of compute infrastructure."

"Acquiring our first TVA 161kV delivery point will significantly improve HES grid stability and system reliability. This would not have been possible without our partnership with DarkHorse. The construction of a new 65MW substation, fully funded by DarkHorse, will provide up to 15MW of additional capacity for existing HES customers," said Jeff Hurd, P.E., General Manager of Hopkinsville Electric System.

Agreement Details

• The new 65 MW station plans to tap TVA's 161 kV transmission system, the regional backbone, which carries large loads with less voltage sag and keeps a 50 MW load off the lines that serve the rest of town. DarkHorse intends to take 50 MW of the station's capacity; the remaining approximately 15 MW will provide additional capacity to HES's existing service territory. HES will design, build, own and operate it.

• The substation is expected to be funded in full by DarkHorse. DarkHorse is obligated to pay the entire cost of construction in advance and convey the substation site to HES.

• The power contract has a ten-year initial term from the commencement of service with automatic five-year renewals.

• Darkhorse has an eighteen-month permit contingency period to pursue local approvals. Service remains subject to permitting, utility construction and other customary conditions.

• TVA has approved the capacity to serve the project.

DarkHorse has operated in Hopkinsville for approximately three years at a site contracted for approximately 15 MW at HES's Holland Substation, also being evaluated for conversion to a superintelligence factory (the existing site will continue to be served by HES's Holland Substation); with the new site, its Hopkinsville footprint reaches approximately 65 MW across two locations. Its commitments stand: closed-loop cooling only, batteries first, and no tax abatements. With this announcement, DarkHorse plans to launch www.hoptowndatacenters.com, where residents can ask questions, see both sites and early design concepts, and read answers to questions from public meetings.

About DarkHorse Technologies Inc.

DarkHorse Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: DRK), formerly Sphere 3D Corp., is a digital infrastructure company focused on operating and expanding scalable power and data center assets for high-performance computing, AI workloads and digital asset infrastructure. Following its business combination with Cathedra Bitcoin and the completion of the previously announced sale of its Iowa site, the Company owns and/or operates approximately 50 MW of operating power capacity across four data center locations in Tennessee and Kentucky, and has a proposed new 50 MW data center under development and conditional contract for power in Kentucky, together with a development pipeline of approximately 100 MW of additional potential expansion opportunities. The Company combines infrastructure ownership, energy optimization expertise and capital markets access to pursue long-term value creation across next-generation compute infrastructure.

For more information, visit www.darkhorse.inc.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. These include, without limitation, statements regarding the construction, cost, capacity and energization of the substation; the conveyance of the substation site; HES's use of the substation and the benefits to its system and customers; the commencement of electric service and the timing thereof; the Company's decision whether to proceed with the substation construction; the development, construction and operation of the facility; the potential use of the facility for artificial intelligence or high-performance computing workloads, none of which is contracted; the potential conversion of the Company's existing Hopkinsville operation; the nature and location of future AI computing demand; anticipated customers, capacity, costs and schedules; the treatment of the project under TVA rate schedules; and the Company's development pipeline and development approach. Words such as "expects," "plans," "intends," "anticipates," "will" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. These statements reflect current expectations, rest on assumptions that may prove incorrect, and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially.

Relevant risks include the satisfaction of conditions precedent under the contract, the Company's ability to obtain zoning, permitting and other governmental approvals within the contractual permit contingency period; the Company's obligation to fund the full cost of the substation in advance, which is not capped and for which no estimate is stated in the contract, including any cost overruns; the non-refundable nature of substation payments except as provided in the contract; the Company's guaranty of its subsidiary's obligations; HES's right to terminate the contract if service has not commenced within 36 months of the contract date in circumstances not caused by HES; the availability of financing and of customer agreements; utility construction cost and schedule risk; equipment availability and lead times; curtailment of service; the Company's security and minimum payment obligations, which begin on commencement of service whether or not the facility is in operation; and the risks described under "Risk Factors" in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K, available at www.sec.gov. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise them except as required by applicable law.

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