Bitcoin Mining Firm Iris Energy Sets Ambitious Growth Targets with 63% Hash Rate Increase
Iris Energy, a Bitcoin mining firm listed on NASDAQ, revealed its plans to increase its hash rate capacity by 63% to 9.1 exahashes per second (EH/s) by early 2024.
The company is currently constructing 80MW of data center space as part of phase 1 of its 600MW site in Childress, Texas. While the focus is on data center construction, the timing for miner purchases will depend on funding and market conditions. Following the announcement, Iris’s shares surged 21% on the day, and the company has seen a remarkable 247% increase year to date. Iris’s current hash rate capacity is 5.6 EH/s, in line with previous projections.
The company had to reduce its capacity by 3.6 EH/s in November due to turning off machines used as collateral for loans. The lender behind those loans is still seeking remedies. Iris is also awaiting “additional long-lead items” for phase 2 of its infrastructure buildout, which is expected to unlock approximately 13.6 EH/s of data center capacity. Leveraging cheap renewable energy and its substantial data center capacity, Iris is considering diversifying into energy-intensive compute applications such as artificial intelligence.
The firm is exploring this expansion opportunity based on previous work and recent discussions with market participants. Iris Energy currently operates three data centers in British Columbia and one in Childress, Texas. Notably, other mining companies like Blockstream and CleanSpark have also announced significant investments in mining capacity amidst the rebounding price of Bitcoin.
Clever Robot News Desk 22nd June 2023
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