Key Takeaways:
IREN's transformation from bitcoin miner to AI infrastructure provider is drawing Wall Street attention as Jefferies initiated coverage with a Buy rating, betting the company's 6 GW land bank and hyperscaler contracts will unlock billions in recurring revenue.
Shares of IREN rose 3.18% to $59.96 in Wednesday's regular session, extending a 493% surge over the past 12 months as the company pivots from crypto mining into GPU cloud services. Jefferies analyst Jonathan Petersen initiated coverage with a $79 price target, implying 36% upside from the prior close.
"IREN has positioned itself in a unique place among AI infrastructure providers with an extraordinarily large long-term powered land bank and a vertically integrated GPU cloud approach," Petersen said in a note to clients. "Owning the land and data centers provides IREN with unique optionality to service customers from powered shells to full GPU cloud builds."
The company's pivot is anchored by two landmark agreements. A November 2025 deal with Microsoft includes a 200-megawatt lease at IREN's Childress facility and a five-year contract worth an estimated $9.7 billion tied to Nvidia's GB300 GPU capacity. In May, IREN announced a separate $3.4 billion AI cloud contract with Nvidia. Combined, the two contracts support roughly $3.1 billion in annual recurring revenue, according to Jefferies. The financing structure of the Microsoft deal allows IREN to recover its roughly $8.8 billion investment during the contract period while generating unlevered internal rates of return exceeding 20%.
The neocloud race heats up
IREN enters a crowded field of former crypto miners and infrastructure companies repositioning for AI workloads. CoreWeave, which pivoted from crypto mining to GPU cloud in 2019, will join the Nasdaq-100 later this month with a valuation above $40 billion. Nebius, another competitor, has also secured hyperscaler partnerships. IREN's 6 GW powered land bank — enough to power roughly 4.5 million US homes — gives it a scale advantage that few rivals can match, though building out that capacity requires significant capital.
Earlier this month, IREN signed a transmission connection agreement for an 800-megawatt data center campus in Bundey, Australia, its first project in the region. The company expects the facility to be operational by 2028.
Of the 15 analysts covering IREN, 10 rate it a buy or strong buy, according to LSEG data. The bullish consensus reflects a broader re-rating as the market values IREN less as a volatile crypto miner and more as a contract-driven AI infrastructure play with visible, recurring revenue streams.
What's at stake for investors
The pivot from bitcoin mining to AI infrastructure shifts IREN's revenue profile from commodity-price-dependent block rewards to long-term, contract-based income. That transition carries execution risk — building data centers at scale requires navigating supply chain bottlenecks for Nvidia GPUs, securing interconnection agreements, and managing construction timelines. But if IREN delivers on its current contracts, the recurring revenue stream could support a valuation multiple closer to infrastructure peers than crypto miners.
IREN shares trade at a discount to CoreWeave on a forward revenue basis, reflecting the market's skepticism about execution. Petersen's $79 target implies the stock has room to re-rate as the company converts its land bank into operational data centers and signs additional hyperscaler customers.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
