Iren delivers first 50MW AI building to Microsoft at Texas campus

Data center developer Iren has delivered its first building to Microsoft at its campus in Childress, Texas, marking a major milestone in the company's transition from cryptocurrency mining to AI-focused cloud infrastructure. The building, designated Horizon 1, has been formally accepted by Microsoft and represents the first of four planned 50MW direct-to-chip liquid-cooled facilities slated for delivery to the hyperscaler at the Childress site this year.

The delivery underscores the scale and speed at which Iren, formerly known as Iris Energy, is executing on its strategic pivot toward AI cloud services. Horizon 1 is the first of four 50MW (IT load) buildings scheduled for handover to Microsoft in 2026, bringing a combined 200MW of new AI-ready capacity online at the Texas campus within a single year. Daniel Roberts, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Iren, said: “Delivering Horizon 1 demonstrates the strength of our vertically integrated model and our ability to execute complex AI infrastructure projects at speed and scale. I want to congratulate and thank the more than 3,000 people across our site team whose expertise, commitment and execution made this milestone possible. We look forward to building on this momentum with Microsoft as we work to deliver Horizons 2-4 later this year.”

The Childress site, which spans 576 acres and was previously used to host cryptomining equipment, is set to offer up to 750MW of capacity at full build-out. The delivery comes on the heels of a five-year, $9.7 billion cloud services contract that Microsoft signed with Iren in November 2025, cementing a long-term relationship between the two companies as demand for AI compute continues to surge.

Iren is in the midst of a deliberate and sweeping transformation away from its roots as a Bitcoin miner. While the company still operates mining hardware, it is actively winding down those operations and redirecting cash flow into its AI cloud business. The company has said it is targeting a broader expansion to 480MW of gross AI Cloud capacity in 2026 and 1.2GW (gross) by 2027, a trajectory that reflects the intensifying race among data center developers to secure capacity for AI workloads.

Beyond Childress, Iren operates crypto and AI sites across Canada and the US, including locations in Texas (Sweetwater), Oklahoma (Kiowa), and British Columbia (Mackenzie, Prince George, and Canal Flats). The company currently has roughly 23,000 GPUs in its fleet, with contracts secured for about 11,000 of them as of October. It is also pursuing a large project in South Australia and recently acquired Spanish data center developer Nostrum, signaling ambitions for international growth.

The delivery to Microsoft is a clear signal that traditional energy-intensive industries like crypto mining are increasingly repositioning themselves to serve the AI economy. For Iren, the successful handover of Horizon 1 validates its vertically integrated approach and positions the company to capture more hyperscale demand as it pushes toward its aggressive capacity targets.