Headline: IREN plummets as Bitcoin mining revenue collapses 58% — AI cloud boom offsets the hit as company pivots away from mining Key takeaways - IREN’s Bitcoin-mining revenue plunged 58% quarter-over-quarter to $28 million in Q1 FY27 (quarter ended Sept. 30). - AI cloud revenue nearly tripled (+182%) to $200 million, driving total revenue to $228 million (up 66% QoQ). - Net loss narrowed to $263 million from $684 million the prior quarter; adjusted EBITDA rose to $66 million from $19 million. - The firm aims to substantially complete its exit from large-scale Bitcoin mining by Dec. 31, 2026, with only immaterial mining operations expected to remain through 2027. - Shares fell sharply on the report, closing Nov. 5 at $18 (down ~17% from prior close) before modest recovery in extended trading. What happened with mining IREN disclosed a steep decline in mining output and revenue as it repurposes capacity for AI workloads. Mining revenue fell from $67 million in June to $28 million in September; compared with the same quarter a year earlier ($233 million), mining revenue is down roughly 88%. Bitcoin production declined to 402 BTC in the quarter from 2,039 BTC a year earlier. Average operating hashrate slid from 45.3 EH/s to 8.8 EH/s as equipment was removed to free up space for AI infrastructure. At Sept. 30 the company had about 7.9 EH/s of installed mining capacity (~180 MW of data center capacity). IREN said it sells mined BTC daily and held no Bitcoin on its balance sheet at quarter end. AI cloud growth drives results The company’s transition is already producing results: AI cloud revenue climbed to $200 million (from $71 million the prior quarter) and accounted for nearly 88% of quarterly revenue (vs. ~52% in June). Of that $200 million, $135 million came from AI cloud services and $65 million from cloud leasing — the latter boosted by Microsoft accepting the first Horizon deployment in August. Operational highlights and contracts - Horizon 1 went into service for Microsoft with NVIDIA Exemplar status. - Operating ARR reportedly doubled to $1 billion. - Revenue backlog rose 22% to $20.3 billion, with roughly two-thirds tied to investment-grade counterparties. - IREN previously announced $2.8 billion in contracts in July and has a target of more than $4 billion contracted ARR, but now expects delivery in January 2027 (possibly slipping to February) due to a customer-requested design change and supplier timing — Microsoft was named as the customer requesting network changes for a 200 MW deployment. - After the quarter, IREN expanded an agreement with an AI research customer, adding a five-year deal worth roughly $22 million per MW in annual revenue; that customer agreed to prepay 90% of GPU capital spend. The company also signed a shorter deal valued at ~$40 million per MW annually. Balance sheet, capex and financing - Total assets at Sept. 30: $20.6 billion, including $6 billion in data center assets. - IREN expects about $15 billion in remaining capital expenditure in fiscal 2027. Management says $9 billion of that is covered by cash, committed financing and customer prepayments; the remaining ~$6 billion depends on targeted financing (including GPU and data center financing). - Rising concerns about the cost of delivering AI infrastructure and borrowing arrangements for GPU projects were flagged as factors weighing on the timeline and market reaction. Where the company stands operationally - Operating AI cloud capacity: ~93 MW as of Sept. 30. - Construction underway at Childress, Mackenzie and Sweetwater; Horizon 2–4 are in late-stage construction; Mackenzie’s 100 MW site and Sweetwater 1 campus remain under development. Market reaction and industry context Investors punished the stock on the sharp mining revenue drop and capex/financing uncertainty, but the market also noted the company’s clear pivot into higher-margin AI cloud services (AI cloud gross margin remained strong at 86%). IREN is not alone in the shift: other Bitcoin miners such as Marathon (MARA) and CleanSpark have likewise announced moves into AI data-center projects. Bottom line IREN’s earnings reveal a decisive — and costly — transformation from Bitcoin miner to AI-cloud operator. Mining revenue has collapsed as rigs come offline, but AI cloud growth is accelerating top-line revenue and backlog. The success of the pivot will hinge on capex execution, financing for remaining GPU and data-center builds, and timely delivery against major customer contracts (notably Microsoft). Read more AI-generated news on: https://app.chaingpt.org/news
