IREN’s $9.7B Microsoft Deal Fuels AI Compute Rush

The Sydney, Australia-based IREN, which has strategically pivoted from Bitcoin mining to AI cloud computing, announced a transformative $9.7 billion agreement with Microsoft that immediately sent shockwaves through financial markets. IREN stock rocketed to nearly $73 per share during Monday morning trading in New York—representing a dramatic 21% surge—before settling at around $67.30. Microsoft stock also experienced gains on the news, reflecting investor confidence in the tech giant’s expanded access to critical AI infrastructure.

At the heart of the agreement is Microsoft’s secured access to Nvidia’s NVIDIA GB300 GPUs, positioning the software behemoth to aggressively advance its artificial intelligence ambitions. IREN co-founder and CEO Daniel Roberts emphasized the strategic significance of the partnership in a public statement, noting that ‘This agreement not only validates IREN’s position as a trusted provider of AI Cloud services, but also opens access to a new customer segment among global hyperscalers.’ The deal represents a remarkable validation for a company that has successfully transitioned from cryptocurrency mining to becoming a key infrastructure provider in the AI ecosystem.

The IREN-Microsoft agreement forms part of a broader pattern of major technology companies securing computational resources through partnerships with data center firms. On the same day as the IREN announcement, Bitcoin miner Cipher Mining revealed an approximately $5.5 billion, 15-year lease agreement with Amazon Web Services to provide turnkey space and power for AI workloads. According to the company statement, Cipher will deliver 300 MW of capacity in 2026, including both air and liquid cooling to the racks. Nasdaq-listed Cipher’s stock responded positively to the news, trading about 22% higher following the announcement.

This trend extends beyond Microsoft and Amazon, with Google actively participating in the compute land grab. In September, Cipher signed a 10-year, roughly $3 billion high-performance computing colocation agreement with Fluidstack, backed by Google. Additionally, Google announced in August that it was increasing its stake in Bitcoin miner Terawulf by providing an incremental $1.4 billion backstop to support project-related debt financing—bringing its total stake to $3.2 billion. These substantial investments underscore the intense competition among technology leaders to secure computational resources essential for AI development and deployment.

The strategic shift from cryptocurrency mining to AI cloud computing represents a natural evolution for companies that have amassed substantial computing infrastructure. Bitcoin mining operations traditionally use warehouses full of computers to process transactions on the crypto network, creating specialized facilities with significant power and cooling requirements. As demand for artificial intelligence services skyrockets, these companies are discovering that their existing infrastructure—including advanced cooling systems and substantial power capacity—can be effectively repurposed for AI workloads.

This infrastructure repurposing comes at a time of relative volatility in cryptocurrency markets. According to crypto market data provider CoinGecko, Bitcoin was recently trading at $106,700, down 3.1% over the past 24 hours and more than 7% during the past week. Market sentiment appears divided on Bitcoin’s immediate future, with a Myriad prediction market showing nearly 60% of respondents agreeing with crypto entrepreneur KBM who believes BTC will sink to $100,000, while the remainder side with trader Mando, who thinks the asset’s next move will be to $120,000. Against this backdrop of cryptocurrency uncertainty, the pivot to AI computing represents a strategic diversification for former mining companies.