Karla Barker 
IREN Ltd. shares climbed more than 12% in Thursday trading after the company hit two milestones tied to its AI cloud business. The company completed delivery of Horizon 1, the first 50-megawatt direct-to-chip liquid-cooled AI cloud deployment built for Microsoft at its Childress, Texas campus. That is part of a five-year, $9.7 billion cloud services agreement signed in November 2025.
IREN also said Horizon 1 received Nvidia Exemplar Cloud status. That means Nvidia tested the GB300 NVL72 deployment and found it met performance and operational standards for next-generation AI infrastructure. The company says it plans to expand its AI cloud platform to 480 MW of gross capacity in 2026 and 1.2 gigawatts in 2027.
A fast delivery
The company credited its vertically integrated model for the timeline. IREN controls design, engineering, and construction of its data centers, which it says lets it move faster on GPU deployments. Daniel Roberts, co-founder and co-CEO, said the delivery shows the company can execute complex AI infrastructure projects at speed and scale. He also thanked the site team. The remaining three Horizon deployments are expected later this year.
AI infrastructure tailwinds
IREN’s recent rally also comes amid broader optimism around AI infrastructure. The stock has gained about 22% over the past five sessions. Nvidia, a major shareholder in IREN, announced a $500 billion financing initiative with BlackRock and Blackstone to support AI infrastructure builders. That should improve access to capital for companies like IREN that need substantial funding for GPU data centers.
Other deals have supported sentiment too. Riot Platforms announced a $9 billion agreement with Anthropic. CoreWeave reported second-quarter revenue of $2.6 billion, more than double year over year, and said its backlog reached $104 billion.
Analyst views
Wall Street remains cautiously optimistic. Bernstein recently reiterated an Outperform rating and $100 price target, which implies more than 100% upside. The firm acknowledged that investors are skeptical about former Bitcoin miners pivoting to AI cloud, especially companies that own and operate infrastructure rather than leasing colocation space. But Bernstein argues that in a tight AI capacity market, IREN’s model could be far more profitable, potentially generating $10 million to $20 million per megawatt versus $2 million to $2.5 million under a colocation model.
IREN has also raised its 2026 year-end AI Cloud annual recurring revenue target to more than $4 billion from $3.7 billion. About 85% of that, or $3.4 billion, is already contracted with Microsoft, Nvidia, AI labs, and a major unnamed AI developer. The company announced new multi-year contracts worth $2.8 billion last month.
Other brokerages have positive ratings. HC Wainwright has a $90 target, Compass Point has $105, and Citizens has $80 with a Market Outperform rating. Goldman Sachs remains neutral with a $50 target, while Needham holds at Hold.
Investors are waiting for IREN’s earnings report due in a little over a month. That could provide more clarity on how the Microsoft buildout and the broader pipeline are progressing.