Shares of Australian cryptocurrency miner Iris Energy soared this week following news of a major cloud services agreement with Microsoft. As reported in the article “Bitcoin Miner Iris Energy Stock Jumps After $9.7B Microsoft AI Deal” by StartupNews.fyi, the agreement positions Iris Energy to provide high-performance data center infrastructure for Microsoft’s growing artificial intelligence workloads.
Under the terms of the deal, Microsoft has committed to purchasing $9.7 billion worth of capacity from Iris Energy over a ten-year period. The contract, one of the largest of its kind in the sector, signals a strategic pivot for the traditionally crypto-focused firm, as it seeks to capitalize on growing global demand for AI computing resources.
Iris Energy, headquartered in Sydney, has historically operated data centers designed to power Bitcoin mining operations using 100% renewable energy, primarily sourced from hydroelectricity. In recent quarters, the company has signaled its ambition to diversify beyond crypto mining as the economics of the sector have fluctuated dramatically.
The Microsoft contract marks a transformative opportunity for Iris Energy to reorient its infrastructure toward AI-related services, tapping into the surging appetite from cloud giants for computing power capable of supporting large language models and other intensive workloads. The company plans to retrofit and expand its facilities to meet enterprise-level standards expected by hyperscale clients such as Microsoft.
Investors responded swiftly to the announcement, with Iris Energy’s stock price jumping over 40% in the hours following the disclosure. Analysts point to the multibillion-dollar deal as a key validation of Iris Energy’s strategic pivot and suggest it could serve as a model for other cryptocurrency infrastructure companies facing uncertain economics in the digital asset markets.
In broader terms, the agreement underscores how AI is transforming adjacent industries, including those initially built to serve blockchain applications. The computational overlap between crypto mining and AI deployments creates an incentive for infrastructure providers to repurpose existing assets and seek long-term stability in sectors with stronger enterprise demand.
While significant capital investment and operational upgrades will be required to transition fully into high-performance AI data services, Iris Energy’s partnership with Microsoft marks a notable milestone in its evolution. The deal also highlights the increasing interdependence between technology giants and infrastructure firms as artificial intelligence reshapes the digital economy.
