IREN delivers first AI cloud deployment to Microsoft under $9.7B deal

IREN just handed Microsoft the keys to a 50-megawatt AI cloud facility in Childress, Texas, completing the first phase of what might be one of the largest cloud infrastructure deals quietly reshaping the AI landscape. The deployment, called Horizon 1, is the opening act of a $9.7 billion, five-year contract that aims to deliver 200 MW of total AI cloud capacity across four identical phases. Microsoft has formally accepted the deployment, which means IREN is now earning revenue on what it spent the better part of a year building. What IREN actually built The facility uses direct-to-chip liquid cooling, a technology that pumps coolant directly onto processors rather than relying on air conditioning to keep an entire room cold. The deployment runs on NVIDIA’s GB300 GPUs, and IREN earned NVIDIA Exemplar Cloud status for its GB300 NVL72 platform at the Horizon 1 site, meaning the infrastructure passed NVIDIA’s own performance benchmarks. The $9.7 billion Microsoft contract, signed in November 2025, includes a 20% prepayment from Microsoft covering dedicated NVIDIA GPU capacity. The scale ambition is staggering Horizon 1 is 50 MW. IREN wants to hit 480 MW of gross AI cloud capacity by th...