IREN Powers 1.4 Gigawatt Texas Data Center, Accelerating AI Infrastructure Push

IREN ($IREN) has switched on power at its Sweetwater 1 data center in Texas, bringing a 1.4-gigawatt site online and accelerating the miner-turned-infrastructure provider’s push into AI-focused compute. The milestone matters because large, grid-connected capacity is increasingly the key bottleneck for scaling ‘AI cloud’ services, and IREN is positioning itself to compete on speed-to-power and speed-to-deployment.

The company said it successfully energized the Sweetwater 1 facility on May 1, connecting a high-voltage substation to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid. The initial power-up is part of IREN’s broader plan to build a 2GW Sweetwater campus through phased construction, a strategy designed to shorten customer lead times and bring AI workloads online faster as demand rises.

Investors reacted positively. Shares of IREN closed up 6.18% on May 1 in U.S. trading at $45.66, according to market data cited by StockTitan, with volume of about 28.76 million shares—slightly below the 20-day average. The stock has remained above its 200-day moving average near $41.79, a level some traders view as a marker of underlying technical strength.

The announcement comes as publicly traded Bitcoin-linked firms increasingly seek to reduce reliance on crypto’s cyclical revenue profile by moving into ‘high-performance computing’ and AI infrastructure. IREN, historically associated with Bitcoin mining, has been explicit about pivoting toward data center operations and AI cloud services, betting that long-duration compute contracts and enterprise demand can provide more stable cash flows than mining economics alone.

Analysts tracking the shift have pointed to meaningful upside if the execution matches the ambition. Simply Wall St, referenced in local coverage, noted a consensus-style target price around $70.40 versus the May 1 close, and modeled a higher value case if the company were to reach $8.7 billion in revenue by 2031—an outcome that would imply a substantial re-rating from current levels. Still, such scenarios hinge on the pace of build-out, customer onboarding, and sustained utilization once capacity is delivered.

IREN’s stock history also reflects the market’s uncertainty around the transition. Over the past 52 weeks, shares have ranged from $6.01 to $76.87, underscoring both the sensitivity to crypto and AI narratives and the execution risks inherent in capital-intensive infrastructure expansions. On May 2, the stock traded between $45.15 and $47.40, ending slightly higher on the day, with volume around 24.64 million shares, according to figures cited in the source.

Strategically, tying Sweetwater into ERCOT is a central piece of the story. ERCOT manages the grid serving the majority of Texas’ electricity demand, and reliable access to large-scale power is critical for AI data centers that must deliver steady uptime and predictable performance. By completing the grid interconnection at Sweetwater 1, IREN has cleared a key infrastructure hurdle and established the baseline from which it plans to scale toward the full 2GW campus.

Industry watchers view the broader implication as straightforward: the winners in AI infrastructure are likely to be those that can secure power, build quickly, and convert capacity into contracted demand. IREN’s Sweetwater energization signals progress on the first two, while the market will be watching closely for evidence of durable customer traction as the phased expansion continues.