Bitcoin miner-turned-AI-infrastructure provider IREN is returning to its Australian roots with plans for its first data center campus in the country, aiming to capitalize on surging demand for artificial intelligence compute across the Asia-Pacific region.
The company announced Wednesday that it has signed a "transmission connection agreement" for a planned 800-megawatt data center campus in Bundey, South Australia. IREN expects the site to become operational in 2028, pending regulatory approvals. The campus will tap into South Australia's high-voltage transmission network and provide connectivity to major regional demand hubs including Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea, and Japan.
IREN co-founder and co-CEO Daniel Roberts highlighted the state's advantages: "South Australia offers what AI infrastructure at scale requires: abundant clean energy, the connectivity to serve the APAC region, and a State Government that understands the opportunity and is acting on it."
The move follows a series of major AI initiatives by IREN over the past year, including a multibillion-dollar AI cloud agreement with Microsoft and a partnership with Nvidia. Earlier this week, the company secured $3.65 billion in A-rated financing backed by its Microsoft contract, covering nearly all GPU spending tied to that deal. VanEck’s head of digital asset research, Matthew Sigel, estimated the campus could be worth roughly $8 per share to IREN, even after heavily discounting for the project’s early stage. IREN shares (IREN) rose nearly 4% to $69 in early trading Wednesday, near their year-over-year high of $76.87.
