IREN Ltd. shares rose more than 12% in Thursday morning trading after the AI cloud infrastructure provider announced it had delivered the first phase of its large-scale Microsoft deployment and secured Nvidia Exemplar Cloud status, marking two significant milestones in its push to become a leading provider of AI computing infrastructure.
IREN said it had completed delivery of Horizon 1, the first of four planned 50-megawatt direct-to-chip liquid-cooled AI cloud deployments being built for Microsoft at the company's Childress, Texas campus.
The project forms part of a five-year, $9.7 billion cloud services agreement announced with Microsoft in November 2025.
"The rapid delivery of Horizon 1 to Microsoft reflects the agility of IREN's vertically integrated model, which provides end-to-end control across design, engineering and construction of the data centers supporting its GPU deployments," the company said in a statement.
IREN also announced that Horizon 1 had achieved Nvidia Exemplar Cloud status after the chipmaker tested the company's Nvidia GB300 NVL72 deployment.
The designation highlights that the deployment meets Nvidia's performance and operational standards for next-generation AI infrastructure.
The company said it remains on track to expand its AI cloud platform to 480 MW of gross capacity during 2026 before increasing it to 1.2 gigawatts in 2027.
Executives eye further expansion #
Daniel Roberts, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of IREN, said the successful delivery demonstrated the company's ability to rapidly execute complex AI infrastructure projects.
“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 remaining three Horizon deployments are expected to be completed later this year as part of the Microsoft contract.
AI infrastructure demand lifts sentiment #
IREN has also benefited recently from broader optimism surrounding AI infrastructure companies.
The stock has rallied roughly 22% over the past five trading sessions.
Earlier this week, Nvidia, one of IREN's major shareholders, announced a $500 billion financing initiative with investment firms including BlackRock and Blackstone to support companies building AI infrastructure.
The initiative is expected to improve access to funding for companies requiring substantial capital to build GPU data centers, a positive development for firms such as IREN.
Investor sentiment has also been supported by a series of major AI infrastructure contracts across the industry.
Riot Platforms recently announced a $9 billion agreement with Anthropic, while AI cloud provider CoreWeave reported second-quarter revenue of$2.6 billion, more than doubling from a year earlier.
The company also said its backlog had grown to $104 billion, underscoring robust demand for AI computing capacity.
Analysts remain optimistic #
Wall Street analysts have largely maintained a positive outlook on IREN despite ongoing debate over its capital-intensive business model.
Bernstein SocGen Group recently reiterated its Outperform rating and $100 price target, implying more than 100% upside from current trading levels.
The brokerage said investors remain skeptical about whether former Bitcoin miners can successfully transform themselves into AI cloud providers, particularly companies like IREN that are investing heavily in owning and operating AI infrastructure rather than pursuing a lower-cost colocation leasing model.
However, Bernstein argued that in an environment where AI computing capacity remains scarce, IREN's strategy could prove significantly more profitable.
According to the firm, the company's AI cloud model could generate between $10 million and $20 million per megawatt, compared with roughly $2 million to $2.5 million per megawatt through traditional colocation leasing.
The brokerage also pointed to recent earnings from Nebius, saying they suggest IREN has opportunities to move further up the AI cloud value chain while narrowing its technology gap.
Last month, the company announced new multi-year AI cloud contracts worth $2.8 billion and raised its 2026 year-end AI Cloud annual recurring revenue target to more than $4 billion from $3.7 billion.
About 85% of that updated target, or approximately $3.4 billion, has already been contracted, including agreements with Microsoft, Nvidia, AI laboratories and a major unnamed AI developer.
Several brokerages have since reaffirmed positive views on the stock.
HC Wainwright maintained a Buy rating with a $90 price target, Compass Point reiterated Buy with a $105 target, while Citizens kept a Market Outperform rating and an $80 price target.
Goldman Sachs maintained a Neutral rating with a $50 target, while Needham continued to rate the stock Hold.
Investors are now closely watching developments ahead of IREN's earnings report, due in just over a month.