From Bitcoin miner to AI giant? IREN AI cloud expansion targets $3.7B

IREN Limited has completed its acquisition of Ingenostrum, S.L. — better known as Nostrum Group — marking the company’s first move into Europe as part of a broader IREN AI cloud expansion strategy that could fundamentally reshape how the Bitcoin mining giant generates revenue.

Key takeaways

• IREN acquired Nostrum Group in Spain, adding approximately 490MW of secured, grid-connected power to its portfolio.
• The deal marks IREN’s entry into Europe, with Spain positioned as its first European AI cloud market.
• IREN targets 480MW of AI cloud capacity and $3.7 billion in annual recurring revenue by end of 2026.
• Bitcoin mining revenue fell to $111.2 million in Q1 2026, while AI cloud services revenue nearly doubled to $33.6 million in the same period.
• IREN holds a five-year, $3.4 billion AI cloud contract with NVIDIA and supports a $9.7 billion Microsoft cloud deal in Texas.

IREN Acquires Nostrum to Expand AI Cloud Infrastructure in Europe

The acquisition brings roughly 490 megawatts of secured, grid-connected power in Spain along with a local development pipeline and a team of more than 50 employees spanning development, engineering, construction, and operations. Nostrum’s business will continue under the IREN brand, making Spain the company’s first European foothold.

This is not just a capacity play. It signals IREN’s intent to build a vertically integrated AI cloud platform on a continent where demand for compute infrastructure has been growing sharply and supply has struggled to keep pace.

Details of the Acquisition

IREN completed the deal for Ingenostrum, S.L. and announced it on June 15, 2026. Beyond the raw megawatt figure, the transaction delivers a ready development pipeline and an established local team — two assets that are often harder to acquire than power itself. Gabriel Nebreda, CEO of Nostrum Group, noted that the company had spent years assembling one of Spain’s most advanced AI infrastructure pipelines, and that joining IREN would allow the group to develop it at the speed and scale European demand now requires.

Significance of Spain as a Strategic Entry Point

Spain’s appeal is not accidental. Daniel Roberts, IREN’s co-founder and co-CEO, pointed specifically to the country’s renewable power availability and fiber connectivity as the primary drivers behind the choice. Europe, in Roberts’s framing, represents one of the largest and fastest-growing markets for AI infrastructure, and Spain sits at a particularly compelling intersection of power, connectivity, and proximity to growing enterprise demand.

That combination — renewable energy infrastructure plus digital backbone — is exactly what large AI workloads require. Securing that position early, before the European AI data center market becomes fully saturated, carries real strategic weight.

IREN’s AI Cloud Growth Strategy and Financial Outlook

IREN’s ambitions in AI cloud are not incremental. The company has set a target of 480MW of AI cloud capacity by 2026 and is aiming for $3.7 billion in annual recurring revenue by year-end — figures that would represent a dramatic transformation of its business model in a relatively short timeframe.

Shift in Revenue Mix from Bitcoin Mining to AI Cloud Services

The company’s most recent quarterly numbers tell the story clearly. For the quarter ended March 31, 2026, Bitcoin mining revenue dropped to $111.2 million from $167.4 million in the prior quarter. Over the same period, AI cloud services revenue nearly doubled, rising from $17.3 million to $33.6 million.

Lower average Bitcoin prices played a role in the mining decline, as did the deliberate removal of mining hardware to make room for GPU installations. IREN also reported a net loss of $247.8 million for the quarter, though that figure included substantial non-cash impairments tied primarily to decommissioned mining hardware — a one-time cost that reflects the scale of the transition underway rather than ongoing operational weakness.

What the numbers actually show is a company in the middle of a deliberate pivot, accepting short-term pain in its legacy business to accelerate revenue diversification. The AI cloud trajectory — nearly doubling quarter over quarter — suggests the transition is gaining momentum even as mining revenue compresses.

Long-Term Contracts with NVIDIA and Microsoft

The pipeline behind IREN’s AI cloud revenue is substantial. The company has signed a five-year, $3.4 billion contract with NVIDIA for AI cloud services, and is also supporting a $9.7 billion Microsoft cloud deal at Childress in Texas. These are not exploratory partnerships — they represent long-duration committed revenue that reduces the earnings volatility that has historically defined Bitcoin mining businesses.

Roberts has described the broader situation as a world that is “structurally short compute,” with the real bottleneck being delivered data center and GPU capacity. That framing positions IREN not as a miner diversifying out of necessity, but as an infrastructure provider moving into a supply-constrained market where long-term contracts are achievable and demand shows no sign of slowing.

Industry Trends: Bitcoin Miners Pivoting to AI and High-Performance Computing

IREN’s European move arrives as a broader wave of Bitcoin miners rethinks what their core assets actually are. Power access, land, and cooling infrastructure — the building blocks of profitable mining — turn out to be equally valuable for running AI compute workloads. The economics of repurposing those assets for AI contracts are increasingly compelling as Bitcoin mining margins face pressure from halving cycles and price volatility.

Other Miners’ Moves in Europe

Several other publicly listed miners are making similar moves. HIVE Digital is converting a data center in Boden, Sweden, into a Tier-3 liquid-cooled high-performance computing facility designed to support 2,000 NVIDIA GPUs across the European Union. Bitdeer has listed Tydal-2 in Norway — a 175MW site currently running crypto workloads — as scheduled for AI conversion by Q4 2026, alongside conversions at Wenatchee, Washington and Knoxville, Tennessee.

Rationale Behind the Shift

The logic driving all of these moves is similar. Miners already control the hard-to-build components of AI infrastructure: large power contracts, physical space, and cooling systems. Converting those sites to serve AI clients — particularly under long-term agreements — offers steadier and more predictable revenue than Bitcoin production, which remains subject to network difficulty adjustments, halving events, and price cycles.

What makes IREN’s European play distinct is the scale and the speed. Acquiring 490MW of secured power in Spain in a single transaction, backed by contracts already in place with NVIDIA and Microsoft, suggests a company that has decided the AI infrastructure opportunity is large enough to pursue aggressively rather than cautiously. Whether the broader industry follows at comparable speed remains one of the defining questions for the sector through the rest of 2026.

FAQ

What is the significance of IREN’s acquisition of Nostrum Group?

The acquisition gives IREN approximately 490MW of secured, grid-connected power in Spain and launches its European AI cloud infrastructure expansion, establishing Spain as the company’s first European market under the IREN brand.

How has IREN’s revenue mix changed recently?

Bitcoin mining revenue fell to $111.2 million in Q1 2026 from $167.4 million in the prior quarter, while AI cloud services revenue increased to $33.6 million from $17.3 million over the same period — reflecting a deliberate shift toward AI compute services.

What are IREN’s growth targets for AI cloud infrastructure?

IREN is targeting 480MW of AI cloud capacity in 2026 and aims to reach $3.7 billion in annual recurring revenue by the end of the year, supported by long-term contracts with NVIDIA and Microsoft.

Why is Spain a key market for IREN’s AI cloud expansion?

Spain offers a combination of renewable power availability and strong fiber connectivity, making it one of the most compelling entry points into the fast-growing European AI infrastructure market, according to IREN co-founder and co-CEO Daniel Roberts.

Article produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by the editorial team.