IREN's Strategic AI Pivot Drives 9% Surge as GPU Demand Soars

IREN Limited (NASDAQ: IREN) shares surged 9% in early trading on October 7, 2025, following the company's announcement of securing new multi-year AI cloud contracts. The stock's rise reflects strong market confidence in IREN's ability to scale its AI compute infrastructure amid surging demand for high-performance GPU deployments. The company disclosed that it has contracted 11,000 of its 23,000 NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs, generating $225 million in annualized run-rate revenue (ARR) by the end of 2025 IREN Secures New Multi-Year AI Cloud Contracts^[1]. This represents 48% of its current GPU deployment and signals robust pre-deployment customer commitments.

The contracts, which span an average of two years, are structured to support a two-year revenue payback period, aligning with industry expectations for rapid capital recovery in AI infrastructure investments IREN Secures $225M in AI Cloud Contracts, Eyes Over $500M Annualized Revenue as GPU Expansion Accelerates^[2]. IREN projects that its 23,000 GPUs-currently operating or on order-will drive over $500 million in ARR by the end of Q1 2026. This target is based on internal assumptions about utilization rates and GPU pricing, with actual revenue contingent on timely delivery and deployment IREN Secures New Multi-Year AI Cloud Contracts^[1]. The company's British Columbia campuses and the Horizon 1 & 2 data centers under construction in Childress, Texas, are expected to support these operations, with capacity for over 100,000 GPUs in the long term IREN Secures New Multi-Year AI Cloud Contracts^[1].

IREN's expansion is underpinned by a 2,910-megawatt power and land portfolio across 2,000 acres in North America, providing a foundation for further customer negotiations and infrastructure scaling. The company emphasized its ability to pivot from ASIC-based Bitcoin mining to GPU-driven AI compute, leveraging its renewable energy strategy and grid-connected facilities to meet evolving market needs IREN Secures New Multi-Year AI Cloud Contracts^[1]. Daniel Roberts, Co-Founder and Co-CEO, highlighted the strategic importance of this transition, stating that IREN's "rapid deployment capabilities and 3 gigawatts of power across North America position it to scale with the accelerating demand for AI compute" IREN Secures New Multi-Year AI Cloud Contracts^[1].

The company's financial disclosures include forward-looking metrics, with $500 million in ARR described as an illustrative run-rate figure rather than a guaranteed outcome. IREN also announced a shift to industry-standard reporting, discontinuing monthly operating updates to align with peers and signal operational maturity IREN Secures New Multi-Year AI Cloud Contracts^[1]. This move comes as the company transitions from a Bitcoin-mining focus to a diversified model encompassing AI cloud services and data center infrastructure.

Analysts note that IREN's AI cloud business is capitalizing on a broader trend of institutional and corporate demand for GPU capacity. The company's ability to secure contracts ahead of delivery-particularly for NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs-underscores the urgency in the AI sector to secure compute resources. With nearly 3 gigawatts of power already secured, IREN's infrastructure is positioned to support large-scale AI workloads, a competitive advantage in a market where power availability often constrains growth. The company's ARR projections and expansion plans suggest a potential to surpass $500 million in revenue by early 2026, contingent on execution and market conditions IREN Secures New Multi-Year AI Cloud Contracts^[1].