Bitcoin Miner IREN Ventures into AI Computing with Pilot Project

The mining company IREN, formerly known as Iris Energy, is set to launch a pilot project focused on high-performance computing using GPU technology for the AI sector, according to the firm’s presentation.

$IREN is pleased to share the presentation that will be delivered at its Analyst & Investor Day at @Nasdaq in New York on Tuesday July 23, 2024.

— IREN (@IREN_Ltd) July 23, 2024

The initiative will be implemented at the flagship facility in Childress, Texas, as stated in the announcement.

Days earlier, IREN announced that Morgan Stanley would act as a financial advisor to explore monetization opportunities for data center services in the AI segment. Back in August 2023, the mining firm invested $10 million in Nvidia graphics processors to explore business expansion into the HPC sector.

On July 11, Culper Research disclosed a short position in IREN shares, citing that the miner’s facilities could not meet the requirements for such operations.

The firm’s specialists noted in the report that IREN spent less than $1 million per 1 MW of capacity when constructing the Childress facility.

“Meanwhile, leading operators, analysts, and experts confirm that the actual cost of developing a data center ready for HPC is ~$10–20 million per MW,” they stated.

Following the presentation, Matthew Sigel, head of digital asset research at VanEck, emphasized that Culper Research’s claims regarding the lack of “power redundancy, liquid cooling, and backup fiber” were refuted.

#Bitcoin Miners AI Pivot (continued)$IREN announces GPU pilot at their Childress site in TX, directly refuting the Culper short report which claimed the site is not suitable to AI/HPC due to Lack of Power Redundancy, Liquid Cooling and Backup Fiber. pic.twitter.com/poS63wuGlS

— matthew sigel, recovering CFA (@matthew_sigel) July 23, 2024

In April, CoinShares experts, in light of the recent halving, suggested that cryptocurrency miners would compensate for reduced income by expanding into the AI sector.

One of the largest deals in this direction was a hosting agreement between Core Scientific and CoreWeave to provide infrastructure with a capacity of 200 MW for housing Nvidia graphics processors. The mining company plans to earn up to $3.5 billion over the 12-year contract term.

Hut 8 has entered into an agreement with a fund managed by Coatue Management, which will invest $150 million in the firm to develop HPC infrastructure. Bitdeer is utilizing $100 million raised from Tether for these purposes.

Crusoe Energy System, specializing in bitcoin mining using flare gas energy, announced a “multi-billion” deal with Lancium to build a data center with a capacity of 1.2 GW for AI computing.