Bitcoin miner IREN Limited has drawn a line under the rapid expansion of its crypto operations, freezing further investment at 52 exahashes per second (EH/s) and refocusing on what it describes as the next phase of its evolution: scalable infrastructure for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.
The Sydney-based firm, which has become one of the world’s most capital-efficient crypto miners, is betting that AI data centres and cloud services will offer more sustainable long-term returns than continued growth in a volatile Bitcoin market. With a growing portfolio of GPU hardware and a pipeline of customer discussions in AI hosting, the company is aiming to parlay its experience in energy and infrastructure into a broader digital services role.
Daniel Roberts, Co-Founder and Co-CEO at IREN, said the shift reflects a strategic reallocation of capital at a pivotal time. “As we near completion of our 50 EH/s mining expansion, our focus is shifting to the next phase of growth and delivering scalable infrastructure for AI and HPC through our AI Cloud Services and AI Data Center businesses,” Roberts said.
Reallocating capital for digital infrastructure
The company will complete its final Bitcoin expansion phase at 52 EH/s in the coming months, after energising its Childress Phase 4 project and growing installed capacity from 31 EH/s to 35 EH/s. The mining operation is expected to generate an illustrative annual net cashflow of $528 million, capital that IREN intends to channel into its AI ventures.
Already, IREN operates 1,896 GPUs, including cutting-edge NVIDIA H100 and H200 hardware, generating an annualised run-rate revenue of $26 million as of the end of March 2025. Activity in this segment is expected to rise as interest in large-scale cloud infrastructure accelerates, particularly following the release of DeepSeek, a new generative AI platform. IREN reports a surge in discussions around deployments of multi-thousand unit GPU clusters at its Prince George data centre, where it is preparing to host Blackwell B200 GPUs in air-cooled configurations.
To support this expansion, IREN is actively pursuing a mix of GPU financing options, including customer prepayments, asset-backed finance, and project-level debt instruments. The company is seeking to optimise capital efficiency while maintaining a balanced risk profile, suggesting a shift in strategic mindset from pure infrastructure scale to financial agility.
Data centres take centre stage
IREN’s ambitions extend well beyond GPU cloud services. The firm is progressing towards the first 50MW of IT load in its Horizon 1 AI data centre project, with capex estimated between $300 million and $350 million. According to the company, this is expected to be funded primarily by customer prepayments and debt financing, with discussions already underway for capacity beyond the initial deployment.
A second major project, the Sweetwater Data Center Hub in Texas, is being developed with 2GW of planned power capacity. Early-stage investments are already being made in substations and supporting infrastructure to maintain what the company calls a “time-to-power” advantage, a crucial factor in attracting AI clients with urgent deployment needs.
IREN has begun placing deposits for long-lead equipment ahead of customer contracts to accelerate potential builds, reflecting confidence in its ability to secure tenants. While this carries risk, it also positions the company as a ready-to-scale player in a market where latency, power access, and construction timelines can make or break major AI deployments.
Roberts highlighted the importance of financing flexibility in the current market. “Our capital strategy prioritises customer prepayments and a range of debt financing solutions, with the existing ATM facility providing a strategic backstop to support delivery certainty and ongoing commercial discussions,” he said.
With $111 million already raised through its at-the-market (ATM) equity facility at an average share price of $11.07, IREN is signalling its willingness to deploy a diverse range of capital sources. This includes convertible notes, corporate debt, and reinvestment of internal cashflows, aiming to support infrastructure development even in the absence of contracted revenues.
For a company that built its reputation on mining digital currency, IREN’s future now appears increasingly tethered to the physical realities of power, hardware, and real estate. Its bet is that the infrastructure for AI may prove more enduring—and more profitable—than the next crypto cycle.
