New York, Jan 12, 2026, 04:51 EST — Premarket
- IREN shares edged up roughly 0.7% in early premarket action.
- Bitcoin hovered around $90,700 as crypto-linked stocks showed a mixed performance.
- Traders are focusing on Tuesday’s U.S. CPI report as well as IREN’s upcoming earnings release.
IREN Limited’s shares ticked up roughly 0.7% to $46.03 in early premarket action Monday.
The stock finds itself caught between two fast-moving trades: crypto pricing and the surge in demand for power-hungry AI computing. Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. ET brings the U.S. consumer price index report for December, a key figure that frequently shakes up rates and risk assets.
Bitcoin edged up 0.1%, hovering around $90,714. Crypto-mining stocks showed a mixed bag: Marathon Digital slipped nearly 2%, while Riot Platforms and Core Scientific gained 1.3% and 2.5%, respectively. CleanSpark dropped close to 3%.
IREN, an Australian firm, operates data centers fueled by renewable energy, using them for bitcoin mining and AI cloud services, Reuters profile data shows. The company maintains mining sites in Canada and Childress, Texas. 1
Investors continue to assess the broader implications of a deal that kicked off in November, when Microsoft inked a $9.7 billion, five-year agreement with IREN. The contract grants access to Nvidia’s cutting-edge chips, with Dell providing the hardware. Reuters noted the contract may be canceled if IREN misses delivery deadlines. 2
When IREN announced the deal, co-CEO Daniel Roberts described it as “another major step forward.” Jonathan Tinter, Microsoft’s head of business development, said the partnership would bring “cutting-edge AI infrastructure” to clients. IREN also revealed the contract includes a 20% prepayment and could generate roughly $1.94 billion in annualized run-rate revenue once fully up and running — a figure that projects revenue based on current scale. 3
A Jan. 2 filing revealed that IREN registered 17.5 million ordinary shares for potential future issuance under its 2025 Omnibus Incentive Plan. The company used a Form S-8, a typical SEC filing for registering stock tied to employee benefit plans. 4
Paper supply like that can make a difference when a stock moves on momentum and headlines, even if the shares are earmarked for employee compensation. Traders are also looking for clues on how fast new capacity will translate into billable AI compute.
The risks cut both ways. Bitcoin’s price could tumble, hitting miners’ margins hard. Meanwhile, any hold-ups in equipment shipments or data-center construction would delay AI revenue, all while costs keep piling up.
Investors will be watching for IREN’s upcoming quarterly report, expected around Feb. 11 according to Nasdaq. 5
