IREN Delivers First 50MW AI Cloud Deployment to Microsoft
Macro & Markets ·
Bitcoin miner IREN has switched on its first 50MW block of AI cloud capacity for Microsoft under a five-year, $9.7 billion agreement that is set to scale to 200MW across four phases.
IREN, a company built on Bitcoin mining infrastructure, confirmed the initial 50MW deployment to Microsoft, according to The Block, marking the start of a contract valued at $9.7 billion over five years. The arrangement calls for capacity to expand to 200MW total, delivered in stages described as four Horizon phases.
The deal illustrates how miners originally built around Bitcoin's proof-of-work demands are repurposing power-dense sites for AI compute, a shift that ties crypto-native infrastructure firms directly to hyperscale cloud demand. Because mining operations already secure large, low-cost power allocations and cooling systems, they are increasingly positioned to convert that same infrastructure toward AI workloads without starting from scratch, a dynamic tracked in ongoing coverage of the bitcoin mining sector.
The Microsoft agreement adds to a broader pattern of the software and cloud giant extending its footprint into infrastructure that touches digital-asset-adjacent industries, from AI compute deals with miners to backing data and security projects tied to blockchain networks. It also underscores how AI capacity commitments of this scale are increasingly structured in multi-year, multi-phase contracts rather than single deployments, giving both parties a longer runway to scale power and hardware in step with demand.
What remains unclear is the timeline for the remaining three Horizon phases and how quickly IREN can bring the additional 150MW of capacity online to reach the full 200MW target. Also unresolved is how this deployment fits into IREN's broader mix of Bitcoin mining versus AI cloud revenue going forward, and whether similar power-to-compute conversions will be pursued by other miners under comparable long-term cloud contracts.