Microsoft Signs $9.7 Billion AI Cloud Deal with Australian Firm IREN

Microsoft inks $9.7B deal with Australia's IREN for AI cloud capacity | TechCrunch

Microsoft is leaving no stone unturned in its quest to secure more compute capacity for meeting its customers' heavy demand for AI services. On Monday, the Redmond-based tech giant signed a $9.7 billion, five-year contract with Australia's IREN to secure further AI cloud capacity. The deal will give Microsoft access to compute infrastructure built with Nvidia's GB300 GPUs, which will be deployed over phases through 2026 at IREN's facility in Childress, Texas, planned to support 750 megawatts of capacity. IREN said it is separately buying GPUs and equipment from Dell for about $5.8 billion. The deal comes after Microsoft last month launched its first production cluster with Nvidia's GB300 NVL72 systems for Azure, which, the company said, are optimized for reasoning models, agentic AI systems and multi-modal generative AI. Last month, Microsoft signed a deal with Nscale for approximately 200,000 Nvidia GB300 GPUs to three data centers in Europe and one in the U.S. Similar to competitors like CoreWeave, IREN started off as a bitcoin-mining operation, but quickly realized that its massive collection of GPUs were better put to use for AI workloads. The company has benefited massively from the shift in focus. The company's CEO Daniel Roberts expects the Microsoft deal to take up only 10% of the company's total capacity and generate about $1.94 billion in annualized revenue, Bloomberg reported.

Microsoft enters approximately $9.7B contract with IREN that gives it access to Nvidia chips

Microsoft has entered into a $9.7 billion cloud services contract with artificial intelligence cloud service provider IREN that will give it access to some of Nvidia's chips. The five-year deal, which includes a 20% prepayment, will help Microsoft as it looks to keep up with AI demand. Last week the software maker reported its quarterly sales grew 18% to $77.7 billion, beating Wall Street expectations while also surprising some investors with the huge amounts of money it is spending to expand its cloud computing infrastructure and address the growing need for AI tools. Microsoft spent nearly $35 billion in the July-September quarter on capital expenditures to support AI and cloud demand, nearly half of that on computer chips and much of the rest related to data center real estate. "IREN's expertise in building and operating a fully integrated AI cloud -- from data centers to GPU stack -- combined with their secured power capacity makes them a strategic partner," Jonathan Tinter, president of business development and ventures at Microsoft, said in a statement. "This collaboration unlocks new growth opportunities for both companies and the customers we serve." Microsoft also announced new deal with OpenAI last week that pushed the Redmond, Washington, company to $4 trillion in valuation for the second time this year. The agreement gives the software giant a roughly 27% stake in OpenAI's new for-profit corporation but changes some of the details of their close partnership. Microsoft's $135 billion stake will be just ahead of the OpenAI nonprofit's $130 billion stake in the for-profit company. IREN also said Monday that it signed a deal with Dell Technologies to buy the chips and ancillary equipment for about $5.8 billion. The Australian company anticipates the chips being deployed in phases through next year at its Childress, Texas campus. Shares of IREN jumped 22% before the opening bell in the U.S. Shares of Microsoft rose slightly,.

Microsoft Inks $9.7 Billion GPU Cloud Contract with Australian Firm IREN | AIM

IREN Limited, a Sydney-based AI cloud and data-centre company, on Monday signed a five-year GPU cloud services contract with Microsoft Corporation valued at approximately $9.7 billion. Under the agreement, IREN will provide Microsoft with access to NVIDIA GB300 GPUs. The deal includes a 20% prepayment, and IREN will source the GPUs and related equipment from Dell Technologies for about $5.8 billion. The GPUs will be deployed in phases through 2026 at IREN's 750-megawatt campus in Childress, Texas, alongside the rollout of new liquid-cooled data centres supporting 200 megawatts of IT load. Daniel Roberts, co-founder and co-CEO of IREN, said the partnership strengthens the company's role in the AI cloud market. "This agreement not only validates IREN's position as a trusted provider of AI Cloud services, but also opens access to a new customer segment among global hyperscalers," Roberts said. IREN said it will fund the capital expenditures through a mix of existing cash, customer prepayments, operating cash flows, and additional financing. The company said the deal marks progress in expanding large-scale GPU deployments across its 3-gigawatt secured power portfolio in North America. Jonathan Tinter, president of business development and ventures at Microsoft, said the collaboration would support customers deploying AI workloads. "Together with IREN, Microsoft is delivering cutting-edge AI infrastructure for our customers," Tinter said. "IREN's expertise in building and operating a fully integrated AI cloud, combined with their secured power capacity, makes them a strategic partner." IREN describes itself as an AI cloud service provider with a portfolio of grid-connected data centres in renewable-rich regions across the US and Canada.

Australia's Iren lands $14.8b Microsoft deal for AI cloud services

Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe. Microsoft has signed an approximately $US9.7 billion ($14.8 billion) deal to purchase AI cloud capacity from Iren, becoming the Australian company's largest customer. The five-year agreement will provide Microsoft access to Nvidia accelerator systems in Texas built using the GB300 architecture for AI workloads and includes a 20 per cent prepayment, Iren said in a statement on Monday. Sydney-based Iren also said it's agreed to purchase the requisite GPUs and related equipment for US$5.8 billion from Dell.

Microsoft enters approx $9.7B contract with IREN that gives it access to Nvidia chips

Microsoft has entered into a $9.7 billion cloud services contract with artificial intelligence cloud service provider IREN that will give it access to some of Nvidia's chips. The five-year deal, which includes a 20% prepayment, will help Microsoft as it looks to keep up with AI demand. Last week the software maker reported its quarterly sales grew 18% to $77.7 billion, beating Wall Street expectations while also surprising some investors with the huge amounts of money it is spending to expand its cloud computing infrastructure and address the growing need for AI tools. Microsoft spent nearly $35 billion in the July-September quarter on capital expenditures to support AI and cloud demand, nearly half of that on computer chips and much of the rest related to data center real estate. "IREN's expertise in building and operating a fully integrated AI cloud -- from data centers to GPU stack -- combined with their secured power capacity makes them a strategic partner," Jonathan Tinter, president of business development and ventures at Microsoft, said in a statement. "This collaboration unlocks new growth opportunities for both companies and the customers we serve." Microsoft also announced new deal with OpenAI last week that pushed the Redmond, Washington, company to $4 trillion in valuation for the second time this year. The agreement gives the software giant a roughly 27% stake in OpenAI's new for-profit corporation but changes some of the details of their close partnership. Microsoft's $135 billion stake will be just ahead of the OpenAI nonprofit's $130 billion stake in the for-profit company. IREN also said Monday that it signed a deal with Dell Technologies to buy the chips and ancillary equipment for about $5.8 billion. The Australian company anticipates the chips being deployed in phases through next year at its Childress, Texas campus. Shares of IREN jumped 22% before the opening bell in the U.S. Shares of Microsoft rose slightly,.

Microsoft signs US$9.7 billion contract with IREN for Nvidia chips

Data centre owner and operator IREN said on Monday it has signed a nearly US$9.7 billion cloud services contract with Microsoft to provide the tech giant with access to Nvidia's GB300 processors over a five-year period. The move is the latest attempt by Microsoft to boost AI and data center infrastructure at a time when AI demand is outstripping cloud capacity at Big Tech companies. Shares of IREN surged about 18 per cent in premarket trading after the announcement, with the company also entering into an agreement with Dell Technologies to purchase the chips and ancillary equipment for about $5.8 billion. IREN expects the GB300 processors to be deployed in phases through 2026 at its 750-megawatt campus in Childress, Texas and said its contract with Microsoft includes a 20 per cent prepayment.

Microsoft Strikes $9.7 Billion Deal With IREN for AI Computing Power -- Update

Microsoft has secured new computing power capacity with a $9.7 billion deal with IREN as big tech races to expand data center capacity across the U.S. Under the five-year agreement, Microsoft will gain access to IREN's Nvidia GB300 chips, giving it access to more data processing power as the tech giant scales its artificial intelligence services. To support the new demand, IREN made a separate agreement with Dell Technologies to purchase new graphics processing units as well as related equipment for $5.8 billion. The hardware is expected to be rolled out in phases throughout the next year at IREN's Texas campus in Childress. Shares of data center operator IREN rose in premarket trading Monday, trading 22% higher ahead of the morning bell at $73.98. In the U.S., data centers have become increasingly critical to power the artificial intelligence boom. Tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google are spending tens of billions of dollars to build massive new facilities to house the thousands of power-hungry GPUs required to train and run AI models. The rapid buildout has also created a strain, including from a shortage of GPUs to process the data, and the need for electricity to run it all. Microsoft has said it plans to double its data-center footprint over the next two years to keep pace with soaring demand for cloud and computing services. It now plans to spend more than previously projected on its AI infrastructure this fiscal year. Recently, Microsoft signed a deal with Nscale to provide about 200,000 Nvidia AI processors in Europe and also committed $17.4 billion over five years for a similar GPU infrastructure deal from Dutch company Nebius for a new data infrastructure capacity in Vineland, N.J. Write to Adriano Marchese at [email protected]