Find winning stocks in any market cycle. Join 7 million investors using Simply Wall St’s investing ideas for FREE.
IREN (NasdaqGS:IREN) has secured $3.6b in GPU financing supported by leading global banks.
The company aligned this funding with a $1.9b customer prepayment tied to a $9.7b AI contract with Microsoft.
IREN outlined plans to expand its data center power capacity by 1.6GW in Oklahoma and target 140,000 GPUs installed by 2026.
IREN is pushing to reposition from Bitcoin mining toward AI cloud infrastructure, backed by substantial contracted demand. The shares recently closed at $41.83, with a very large 3-year return and a 235.4% gain over the past year, although the stock is down 22.2% over the past week and 4.1% over the past month. That mix of strong multi-year performance and short-term pullback frames how the market is digesting this business shift.
For investors, a central question is whether this AI-centric model and long-term Microsoft contract meaningfully change IREN’s risk and earnings profile compared with its mining roots. The scale of secured financing, power build-out and GPU orders positions the company to operate as a large-capacity compute provider. Future updates on execution, utilization and contract terms are likely to be important catalysts for sentiment around NasdaqGS:IREN.
Stay updated on the most important news stories for IREN by adding it to your watchlist or portfolio. Alternatively, explore our Community to discover new perspectives on IREN.
NasdaqGS:IREN 1-Year Stock Price Chart
For existing and potential shareholders, the headline here is that IREN has largely secured the hardware and power it needs to support the Microsoft AI contract, but the latest quarter shows how costly that pivot is to execute. Revenue for Q2 rose to US$184.69m from US$116.14m a year earlier, yet the company reported a sizeable net loss of US$155.41m versus a US$21.89m loss, reflecting non cash items, mining-related impairments and heavy build-out costs as it shifts capacity from Bitcoin mining toward higher value AI workloads.
The developments line up with the community view of IREN moving from a pure Bitcoin miner into an AI infrastructure operator backed by contracted demand. The Microsoft deal and US$3.6b GPU financing speak to the long-duration AI story described by long term investors, while the current earnings volatility and funding needs echo earlier concerns in those narratives about dilution, execution risk and the challenge of funding very large-scale projects.
⚠️ Large Q2 net loss of US$155.41m and non cash charges point to earnings quality questions and the impact of the build-out phase.
⚠️ Analysts have highlighted a remaining funding gap and past shareholder dilution, which could matter if additional capital is raised on less favorable terms.
🎁 Revenue for the six months to December 31, 2025 rose to US$424.99m from US$168.91m, and the period swung from a US$73.59m loss to US$229.2m in net income, showing how sensitive results are to the new business mix.
🎁 The Microsoft contract, GPU financing and over 4.5 GW of secured power give IREN a differentiated position versus peers like Marathon Digital, Riot Platforms and CleanSpark that are also trying to move closer to AI compute.
From here, investors are likely to focus on three things: how quickly AI cloud revenue grows as a share of the total, whether additional AI contracts materialize beyond Microsoft and how IREN closes any remaining funding gap without heavy dilution. If you want to see how different investors are thinking about those trade offs and how this latest update fits into the longer story, take a moment to check the community narratives on IREN and compare their theses with your own.
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
Companies discussed in this article include IREN.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com