IREN Clears Its Biggest AI Test With Microsoft

Data-center operator IREN Ltd. (IREN, Financials) has built its business on Bitcoin mining and is beginning to demonstrate that AI drive is more than a promise.

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT, Financials) has officially approved Horizon 1, the first of four data centers IREN is developing under a five-year, $9.7 billion deal.

That’s important because IREN may now begin to send Microsoft a bill every month. One of the major uncertainties around the company until now has been whether it can really execute an AI buildout that dwarfs its existing business. The first real proof point is Horizon 1.

Also operating the site were Nvidia Corp. (NVDA, Financials) computers with GB300, which gave the site Exemplar Cloud status, offering IREN another vote of confidence in performance and reliability.

The corporation has already put together a $3.65 billion loan package connected to the Microsoft contract that should pay much of the GPU spending. It also has a separate five-year $3.4 billion cloud deal with…