Hut8 wins another $9.8 billion AI lease contract, IREN signs a $2.8 billion agreement

Hut8 and IREN sign multi-billion dollar artificial intelligence infrastructure agreement

On Monday, Hut8 and IREN announced a multi-billion dollar new artificial intelligence infrastructure deal, two companies that originate in bitcoin mining businesses continue to expand into data centers and cloud computing.

Highlights

Hut8 has fully leased out its Beacon Point project after signing its second 15-year, US$9.8 billion AI agreement.

IREN has added US$2.8 billion in contracts and raised its AI cloud business goal to more than US$4 billion.

Both companies 'shares achieved double-digit gains, showing that former bitcoin miners are accelerating their entry into the AI infrastructure market.

Hut8 signed its second 15-year, US$9.8 billion lease agreement at the Beacon Point AI Data Center Campus in Nuesese County, Texas. The agreement covers 352 MW of IT capacity and uses a three-net lease model. Hut8 shares rose 12%, and IREN shares rose 8%. IREN increased its year-end cloud business annual recurring revenue target from US$3.7 billion to more than US$4 billion and signed new multi-year customer contracts worth US$2.8 billion.

In addition, IREN announced a new multi-year AI cloud contract of US$2.8 billion and raised its annualized recurring revenue target for the end of 2026 to more than US$4 billion. Shares of both companies rose after the announcement.

Hut8 's new agreement covers an additional 352 MW of IT capacity, doubling existing tenants 'contracted capacity at Beacon Point to 704 MW. The company described the customer as a high-investment-grade counterparty, but did not disclose his specific identity. The second agreement brought the park's total base contract value to US$19.6 billion. Previously, Hut8 announced its first $9.8 billion Beacon Point lease agreement in May, which also covers 352 megawatts for a 15-year period and uses NVIDIA's DSX reference architecture. At the time, the agreement increased Hut 8 's contracted AI capacity to approximately 597 MW.

With the signing of the second contract, Hut8 currently reports 949 MW of contracted IT capacity in its AI data center portfolio, including 704 MW at Beacon Point and 245 MW at River Bend. The company said the portfolio has a combined underlying contract value of $26.6 billion and is expected to average annual net operating income of more than $1.75 billion.

"Our tenants at Beacon Point have chosen to double the size of the campus, which is the strongest recognition of asset value," said Asher Genoot, CEO of Hut8, when announcing the latest agreement. Renewal options could bring Beacon Point's total potential contract value to $50.2 billion.

At the same time, IREN said new contracts with AI developers added $2.8 billion to the total contract value. The company has raised its year-end AI cloud annualized recurring revenue target from US$3.7 billion to more than US$4 billion, of which approximately 85% have been signed. IREN lists customers such as Microsoft, NVIDIA, Perplexity, Figure AI, Together AI, Fluidstack, Fireworks AI, Fal AI and Hume AI. The company also stated that the upfront payment included in the recent agreement is equivalent to approximately 45% of relevant GPU capital expenditures, reducing the funding IREN needs to provide directly for these deployments. As of June 30, the company held approximately US$7.6 billion in cash and cash equivalents (including restricted funds).

"Our vertically integrated AI cloud platform is accelerating expansion," said Daniel Roberts, co-founder and co-CEO. IREN has expanded its self-built AI cloud capacity from approximately 3 MW in the past year to a planned delivery of 480 MW in 2026, with a goal of reaching 1.2 GW in 2027.

The revised goal builds on previous large contracts. IREN previously signed a five-year,$3.4 billion agreement with NVIDIA and a $9.7 billion Microsoft contract. The company originally planned to achieve annual recurring revenue of $3.7 billion by the end of 2026, but raised that figure on Monday.

These announcements reflect broader shifts in the Bitcoin mining industry. Companies that already have large power connections, land and data center infrastructure are increasingly signing contracts with AI customers seeking power and computing power. According to previous reports, before the latest Hut8 and IREN transactions, listed mining companies had announced AI and high-performance computing contracts worth more than $70 billion. This shift involves companies such as Hut8, IREN, TeraWulf, and Core Scientific, which were once large energy consumers in the Bitcoin mining space.

IREN has also expanded beyond North America. The company acquired the Nostrum Group, adding 490 MW of guaranteed electricity in Spain. Its quarterly AI cloud revenue increased to US$33.6 million from US$17.3 million in the previous quarter, while Bitcoin mining revenue declined. Hut8 adopted a similar infrastructure strategy at Beacon Point, acquiring 1000 MW of utility capacity and then signing a long-term tenant agreement to commercialize the Texas campus through a large AI lease.

The shift to AI has made investors pay more attention to the power capacity owned by former and active Bitcoin miners. These companies often already operate near large power connections, and it can take years for developers of new data centers to obtain such connections. Bernstein estimates that Bitcoin miners control more than 27 gigawatts of planned electricity capacity globally. Research believes that existing power infrastructure can shorten the development time of AI projects compared to new sites waiting for grid connections.

For Hut8, the second Beacon Point deal fully commercializes the 1-gigawatt campus as currently planned and doubles the tenant's contracted capacity. For IREN, the new contract leaves most of its revised AI cloud goals of more than $4 billion at the end of the year signed. As a result, these two announcements further promote the industry's shift from pure Bitcoin mining to long-term AI infrastructure contracts. Hut8 currently reports a base contract value of $26.6 billion for its AI portfolio, while IREN continues to expand its customer base and planned computing capacity in multiple regions.