AIBRIEF
The former Bitcoin miner cleared Microsoft's five day validation and Nvidia's latest generation AI server certification, unlocking its first invoice on a deal worth about $9.7 billion.
Microsoft has accepted IREN's first AI data center under a five-year, $9.7 billion contract, clearing the former Bitcoin miner to send its first monthly invoice on a deal it spent the year building toward.
The site, Horizon 1, is the first of four data centers IREN is delivering to Microsoft. Microsoft accepted it after a five-day validation window. Nvidia then tested the site running its GB300 systems, one of its newest AI server platforms, and certified the site meets its performance and reliability bar. With acceptance, IREN can begin invoicing Microsoft monthly.
The delivery is the first live revenue under the $9.7 billion Microsoft contract. To fund the buildout, IREN lined up a $3.65 billion investment-grade debt package backed by the Microsoft contract, covering nearly all GPU spending tied to the deal. It also holds a separate five-year, $3.4 billion cloud agreement with Nvidia, a second contracted AI revenue stream.
More than a quarter of IREN's shares remain sold short, leaving a sizable bear position to clear if execution continues. In IREN's most recent quarter, Bitcoin-mining revenue dropped sharply while AI cloud services revenue nearly doubled, evidence the pivot is landing but still small relative to the legacy mining business.
IREN's next update is expected around Aug. 27, when the next milestone test arrives.