New York, Jan 16, 2026, 12:22 EST — Regular session
IREN Limited shares climbed 10.6% to $57.40 by 12:22 p.m. EST on Friday, after trading as high as $57.95. The stock opened at $52.25 and was last trading with about 28.8 million shares changing hands.
The move matters because IREN is increasingly being traded as an AI infrastructure play, not just a Bitcoin miner, even as crypto prices wobble. Bitcoin slipped about 1.8% on the day, while mining peers Marathon Digital rose about 6.5%, Riot Platforms gained about 12% and CleanSpark added about 7.3%.
H.C. Wainwright analyst Mike Colonnese said the company’s Microsoft contract is still not fully reflected in the stock and lifted his price target to $80 after a double upgrade to “buy,” TipRanks reported. “We would not be surprised to see the company announce new AI contracts in 2026,” he wrote. (TipRanks)
In an SEC filing, IREN said it agreed to provide Microsoft access to dedicated GPU infrastructure capacity in tranches, targeted for deployment during 2026, at its “Horizon” data center facilities in Childress, Texas. The company put the total contract value at about $9.7 billion through 2031 and said 20% of each tranche is paid upfront; it also said Microsoft can terminate if delivery dates are missed after a cure period.
IREN’s co-chief executive Daniel Roberts said when the deal was announced that it was a “milestone partnership” that “opens access” to hyperscalers, a term used for the largest cloud operators. Microsoft’s Jonathan Tinter said the collaboration was aimed at delivering “cutting-edge AI infrastructure” for customers.
In an investor update, IREN described annual recurring revenue (ARR) as the average annual revenue under the contract, assuming on-time delivery and commissioning, and pegged ARR at $1.94 billion. The same presentation put estimated GPU capital spending, including ancillary items, at $5.8 billion and cited an 85% “project EBITDA margin,” a cash-style profitability measure before interest, taxes and depreciation.
Still, the math is unforgiving. Building AI-ready data centers and installing top-end chips costs money up front, and delays can turn into penalties, lost revenue or a weaker negotiating hand when the next contract comes up.
The next checkpoint is earnings. IREN’s next results are expected on Feb. 11, according to Zacks’ earnings calendar, with investors likely to focus on financing, buildout milestones and any fresh customer announcements tied to its AI cloud push. (Zacks)
