IREN delivers first of four AI cloud deployments to Microsoft under $9.7 billion deal

Bitcoin miner-turned-AI infrastructure provider IREN has delivered the first of four planned 'Horizon' AI cloud deployments to Microsoft under a five-year, $9.7 billion contract.

According to a company release, Horizon 1 is a 50-megawatt direct-to-chip liquid-cooled deployment at IREN's Childress, Texas, campus. The remaining Horizon 2 through 4 deployments are expected to be delivered later this year.

The four phases will total 200 megawatts of IT capacity and Nvidia GB300 GPUs. IREN signed the cloud service agreement with Microsoft in November 2025.

IREN (IREN) also said Horizon 1 was designated Nvidia's Exemplar Cloud status, recognizing cloud providers that meet Nvidia's performance and reliability standards for running AI workloads.

"Delivering Horizon 1 demonstrates the strength of our vertically integrated model and our ability to execute complex AI infrastructure projects at speed and scale," IREN co-founder and co-CEO Daniel Roberts said in a statement.

IREN is targeting 480 MW of AI cloud capacity in 2026 and 1.2 gigawatts by 2027 as it continues to pivot away from bitcoin mining.

In June, the company secured a $3.65 billion debt package backed by its Microsoft contract to help fund the GPUs for the buildout, which received an investment-grade rating of A from Fitch and A(low) from DBRS.

At the time, IREN said the financing covered 96% of the $5.81 billion in GPU spending tied to the contract.

Like many of its legacy bitcoin mining peers, IREN has been pursuing AI and high-performance computing opportunities to capitalize on heavy demand for power-intensive data center capacity.

IREN shares were up 2.6% to $45.22 on Monday afternoon after reaching $46.50 earlier in the day. But despite the contracts, the stock has only gained less than 6% year to date.