BTC miner IREN lands $9.7B Microsoft deal, accelerating industry pivot to GPUs

Bitcoin mining company IREN (IREN) has signed a multi-year GPU cloud services contract with Microsoft, highlighting the growing integration between traditional mining infrastructure and the expanding demands of Big Tech for AI computing power.

The five-year agreement, valued at $9.7 billion, will provide Microsoft with access to Nvidia GB300 GPUs hosted within IREN’s data centers.

In a related move, IREN also announced a $5.8 billion deal with Dell Technologies to acquire GPUs and related equipment. The company plans to fund its capital expenditures through a combination of cash reserves, customer prepayments, operational cash flow, and additional financing.

IREN said the agreement reinforces its position as a major provider of AI cloud services, following its pivot into the sector in early 2024. Beyond AI, the company remains one of the largest Bitcoin (BTC) miners by realized hashrate.

IREN shares traded sharply higher after Monday’s market open, reflecting investor enthusiasm following the Microsoft announcement.

IREN stock surged more than 10% after Monday’s open. Source: Yahoo FinanceRelated: Solo Bitcoin miner scores $347K, ‘pure self-soverignty in action’

Bitcoin miners turn to AI as profit pressures mount

IREN is among a growing number of Bitcoin miners making an aggressive pivot into AI GPUs and data infrastructure as they seek to diversify revenue streams amid an increasingly competitive and capital-intensive mining landscape.

HIVE Digital was one of the first to shift strategy, beginning its transition in mid-2023 and now generating meaningful revenue from AI and high-performance computing services.

MARA Holdings unveiled an immersion cooling system in 2024 designed to support dense compute workloads such as AI. Earlier this year, Riot Platforms also began laying the groundwork for a potential expansion into AI and high-performance computing.

In one of the sector’s largest deals to date, TeraWulf announced a $3.7 billion hosting agreement in August with AI cloud platform Fluidstack, which is backed by Google-parent Alphabet. The agreement includes a 10-year colocation lease that could be extended in five-year increments

Related: Bitcoin mining stocks outperform BTC as investors bet on AI pivots

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