Abandoned Bitcoin (BTC) and went for AI... IREN (IREN) stock price surges 150%, a drama of explosive growth

▲ Bitcoin (BTC), Mining/ChatGPT generated image

IREN (IREN), which transformed from a Bitcoin (BTC) mining company into an artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure company, has seen its stock price surge by nearly 150% over the past 12 months. By securing AI cloud contracts totaling $13.1 billion with Microsoft and NVIDIA, it is gaining attention as an AI infrastructure winner hidden behind NVIDIA (NVIDIA, NVDA).

According to the investment specialized media The Motley Fool on July 3 (local time), IREN is an Australian AI infrastructure company with a market capitalization of approximately $14 billion. As NVIDIA has grown into the world's largest company with a market capitalization of $4.7 trillion, the media presented IREN as a small-cap AI growth stock for investors seeking faster stock price appreciation.

IREN was originally a Bitcoin mining company called Iris Energy, which exclusively used renewable energy. In 2024, it changed its name to IREN and entered the AI infrastructure market by purchasing NVIDIA H100 and H200 Graphics Processing Units. In 2025, it focused its capital, logistics, and power infrastructure on expanding AI and high-performance computing data centers rather than Bitcoin mining.

The results of the business transformation manifested in colossal contracts. In November last year, IREN signed a 5-year AI cloud contract worth $9.7 billion with Microsoft (Microsoft, MSFT). In May this year, it additionally secured an AI cloud service contract worth $3.4 billion with NVIDIA. The combined value of these two contracts amounts to $13.1 billion, positioning IREN as a key player in the AI NeoCloud market.

The growth rate projected by Wall Street is also steep. IREN's revenue is expected to surge from $510 million in fiscal year 2025 to $6.44 billion in fiscal year 2028. Adjusted EBITDA is anticipated to rocket from $270 million to $4.89 billion during the same period, with profitability also projected for fiscal year 2028.

IREN's enterprise value is $15.7 billion, assessed at 7 times its projected next year's revenue and 10 times its adjusted EBITDA, respectively. The Motley Fool evaluated that while the burden of large-scale expenditures is temporarily suppressing the valuation of NeoCloud companies, the long-term expansion of its AI infrastructure business could offer multi-bagger return opportunities for IREN.

[Article Key Summary]

-IREN has rapidly emerged as an AI infrastructure company, with its stock price surging by nearly 150% over the past 12 months.

-It secured AI cloud contracts totaling $13.1 billion with Microsoft and NVIDIA.

-Wall Street expects IREN's revenue to surge from $510 million in fiscal year 2025 to $6.44 billion in fiscal year 2028.

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