Microsoft Approves First 50MW Phase of $9.7B IREN AI Cloud Deal

Microsoft $MSFT accepts the first 50MW phase of IREN’s $9.7B AI cloud deployment. Microsoft formally approved Horizon 1 for a liquid-cooled data center in Childress, Texas targeting 50 MW by Q4 2025. The five-year contract is worth approximately $9.7B and commits Microsoft to buying dedicated GPU cloud services. Microsoft provided a 20% upfront payment to help fund the infrastructure buildout. IREN secured a separate purchase agreement with Dell Technologies valued at approximately $5.8B for NVIDIA $NVDA GB300 GPUs. The arrangement expands across four phases to 200 MW by end of 2026, projecting roughly $1.94B in annual recurring revenue at full capacity. Crypto miners are turning into datacenter landlords because hyperscalers need power and liquid cooling faster than they can build it themselves.