Iren jumps after $2.8 billion AI cloud contract haul
Iren raised its 2026 AI cloud revenue target after announcing multiyear deals with top AI developers and customer prepayments for GPU spending.
By Sal Moretti · Money Reporter
3 min read
Iren shares climbed about 16% on Monday after the AI infrastructure company said it had signed $2.8 billion in new multiyear cloud-service contracts and lifted its 2026 target for its AI cloud business.
The company said in a Monday press release that the agreements involve several leading artificial-intelligence developers. Iren now expects year-end annualized run-rate revenue from its AI cloud unit to top $4 billion, up from a previous target of $3.7 billion.
Iren said customers using its bare-metal and managed-cloud services include Nvidia, Microsoft, Perplexity and a new leading AI developer that it did not name.
Big names, bigger target
The fresh contracts arrive as investors watch whether AI-focused cloud providers can keep signing customers while spending heavily on data-center capacity and graphics processors.
MarketWatch reported that anchor customers such as Nvidia and Microsoft have helped support confidence in Iren’s model. Iren reached a five-year agreement with Microsoft in November 2025, making the tech giant its first hyperscaler customer, according to that reporting.
At the time, Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Brett Knoblauch described the Microsoft agreement as a “game-changer” for Iren, MarketWatch reported.
The company’s Monday update also gave investors a closer look at how some of its hardware spending is being funded. Iren said customer prepayments represent about 45% of the capital expenditures tied to GPUs for the new deployments, cutting the amount the company needs to fund itself. The contracts carry a weighted average term of around four years, according to Iren.
Investors had been nervous
The rally followed a rough stretch for Iren and other so-called neocloud companies. MarketWatch reported that shares in the group have been under pressure after reports that Meta Platforms plans to move into cloud services.
That possibility has raised concerns among some investors that neocloud providers could be a temporary fix for AI demand until larger hyperscalers bring more of their own data centers online, according to MarketWatch.
Iren’s own stock had also been hit earlier in the month after the company announced a multiyear retention equity package for co-founders and co-CEOs Daniel Roberts and Will Roberts. MarketWatch reported that investors worried the package, which gave the co-founders a combined 6% stake in the company, would dilute existing holders. Iren shares had fallen 31% over the prior month, according to the report.
The company said on its May earnings call that about 95% of Microsoft-related GPU capital spending would be covered through prepayments and GPU financing.
Iren also reported having roughly $7.6 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of June 30, 2026.
Daniel Roberts said Iren’s data-center footprint has grown from 3 megawatts of self-built AI cloud capacity to 480 megawatts delivered this year, according to MarketWatch. The company plans to expand capacity to 1.2 gigawatts by 2027.
This story draws on original reporting from MarketWatch.