Childress Phase 3 substation energized

On-track for 31 EH/s this month

SYDNEY, Dec. 02, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IREN Limited (NASDAQ: IREN) (together with its subsidiaries, “IREN” or “the Company”) today announced it has increased its installed self-mining capacity by 33% to 28 EH/s.

31 EH/s expansion update

IREN has increased its installed capacity from 21 EH/s to 28 EH/s (15 J/TH efficiency) following the energization of its Childress Phase 3 substation.

Childress Phase 3 construction is near complete and IREN expects to achieve 31 EH/s of installed capacity this month.

• Miner inventory: sufficient inventory on-site to achieve 31 EH/s
• Construction:
  • 4 data center buildings complete, energized and hashing
  • 2 data center buildings remaining, finalization of internal fit-out and progressive completion expected this month

IREN’s continued delivery against its 31 EH/s expansion target, best-in-class fleet efficiency and low electricity costs positions the business as a large scale, low-cost producer with an all-in cash cost per Bitcoin of ~$29k¹.

Accelerating expansion to 50 EH/s in H1 2025

IREN continues to invest in accretive growth and is accelerating its growth trajectory to 50 EH/s and 810MW of data centers in H1 2025 (previously H2 2025), underpinned by:

• Single site expansion at Childress, through Childress Phase 4 & 5 (+300MW) with earthworks and foundation works ongoing
• Site teams and processes in place to continue cadence of constructing approximately 50MW of data centers per month
• S21 Pro miners previously secured (fixed price, $18.9/TH)
  

Assumptions and Notes

1. All-in cash cost per Bitcoin at 31 EH/s reflects total net electricity costs, overheads and Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) cash costs and includes benefit of $32m illustrative contribution from AI Cloud Services, on a per Bitcoin mined basis. Calculations assume hardware operates at 100% uptime, nameplate fleet efficiency of 15 J/TH, weighted average power cost of $0.036, overheads of $81m, REC costs of $9m, power consumption of 484MW, network hashrate of 732 EH/s, block reward of 3.125 BTC per block, transaction fees of 0.1 BTC per block, pool fees of 0.15%. $32m illustrative contribution from AI Cloud Services calculated as illustrative revenue less assumed electricity costs (excludes all other site, overhead and REC costs) and assumes hardware is fully utilized by customers and operating at 100% uptime, 1.25kW power draw per GPU, $0.045/kWh electricity costs and $2.00 per GPU hour revenue assumption. REC costs at 31 EH/s assume $3/MWh pricing based on historical purchases. Weighted average power cost assumption reflects $0.045/kWh costs in British Columbia and $0.0325/kWh costs in Texas - latter in line with actual net electricity costs of $0.031, $0.032 and $0.0306 in Aug, Sep and Oct 2024, respectively. Historical power prices achieved and power price assumptions may or may not materialize in the future. This press release should be read strictly in conjunction with the forward-looking statements disclaimer on page 3.
   

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or IREN’s future financial or operating performance. For example, forward-looking statements include but are not limited to the Company’s business strategy, expected operational and financial results, and expected increase in power capacity and hashrate. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “may,” “can,” “should,” “could,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “project,” “strive,” “budget,” “forecast,” “expect,” “intend,” “target”, “will,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “continue,” “scheduled” or the negatives of these terms or variations of them or similar terminology, but the absence of these words does not mean that statement is not forward-looking. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In addition, any statements or information that refer to expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, performance or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking.

These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations and beliefs. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause IREN’s actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward looking statements, including, but not limited to: Bitcoin price and foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations; IREN’s ability to obtain additional capital on commercially reasonable terms and in a timely manner to meet its capital needs and facilitate its expansion plans; the terms of any future financing or any refinancing, restructuring or modification to the terms of any future financing, which could require IREN to comply with onerous covenants or restrictions, and its ability to service its debt obligations, any of which could restrict its business operations and adversely impact its financial condition, cash flows and results of operations; IREN’s ability to successfully execute on its growth strategies and operating plans, including its ability to continue to develop its existing data center sites and to diversify and expand into the market for high performance computing (“HPC”) solutions it may offer (including the market for AI Cloud Services); IREN’s limited experience with respect to new markets it has entered or may seek to enter, including the market for HPC solutions (including AI Cloud Services); expectations with respect to the ongoing profitability, viability, operability, security, popularity and public perceptions of the Bitcoin network; expectations with respect to the profitability, viability, operability, security, popularity and public perceptions of any current and future HPC solutions (including AI Cloud Services) that IREN offers; IREN’s ability to secure and retain customers on commercially reasonable terms or at all, particularly as it relates to its strategy to expand into markets for HPC solutions (including AI Cloud Services); IREN’s ability to manage counterparty risk (including credit risk) associated with any current or future customers, including customers of its HPC solutions (including AI Cloud Services) and other counterparties; the risk that any current or future customers, including customers of its HPC solutions (including AI Cloud Services), or other counterparties may terminate, default on or underperform their contractual obligations; Bitcoin global hashrate fluctuations; IREN’s ability to secure renewable energy, renewable energy certificates, power capacity, facilities and sites on commercially reasonable terms or at all; delays associated with, or failure to obtain or complete, permitting approvals, grid connections and other development activities customary for greenfield or brownfield infrastructure projects; IREN’s reliance on power and utilities providers, third party mining pools, exchanges, banks, insurance providers and its ability to maintain relationships with such parties; expectations regarding availability and pricing of electricity; IREN’s participation and ability to successfully participate in demand response products and services and other load management programs run, operated or offered by electricity network operators, regulators or electricity market operators; the availability, reliability and/or cost of electricity supply, hardware and electrical and data center infrastructure, including with respect to any electricity outages and any laws and regulations that may restrict the electricity supply available to IREN; any variance between the actual operating performance of IREN’s miner hardware achieved compared to the nameplate performance including hashrate; IREN’s ability to curtail its electricity consumption and/or monetize electricity depending on market conditions, including changes in Bitcoin mining economics and prevailing electricity prices; actions undertaken by electricity network and market operators, regulators, governments or communities in the regions in which IREN operates; the availability, suitability, reliability and cost of internet connections at IREN’s facilities; IREN’s ability to secure additional hardware, including hardware for Bitcoin mining and any current or future HPC solutions (including AI Cloud Services) it offers, on commercially reasonable terms or at all, and any delays or reductions in the supply of such hardware or increases in the cost of procuring such hardware; expectations with respect to the useful life and obsolescence of hardware (including hardware for Bitcoin mining as well as hardware for other applications, including any current or future HPC solutions (including AI Cloud Services) IREN offers); delays, increases in costs or reductions in the supply of equipment used in IREN’s operations; IREN’s ability to operate in an evolving regulatory environment; IREN’s ability to successfully operate and maintain its property and infrastructure; reliability and performance of IREN’s infrastructure compared to expectations; malicious attacks on IREN’s property, infrastructure or IT systems; IREN’s ability to maintain in good standing the operating and other permits and licenses required for its operations and business; IREN’s ability to obtain, maintain, protect and enforce its intellectual property rights and confidential information; any intellectual property infringement and product liability claims; whether the secular trends IREN expects to drive growth in its business materialize to the degree it expects them to, or at all; any pending or future acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures or other strategic transactions; the occurrence of any environmental, health and safety incidents at IREN’s sites, and any material costs relating to environmental, health and safety requirements or liabilities; damage to IREN’s property and infrastructure and the risk that any insurance IREN maintains may not fully cover all potential exposures; ongoing proceedings relating in part to the default, and any future litigation, claims and/or regulatory investigations, and the costs, expenses, use of resources, diversion of management time and efforts, liability and damages that may result therefrom; IREN's failure to comply with any laws including the anti-corruption laws of the United States and various international jurisdictions; any failure of IREN's compliance and risk management methods; any laws, regulations and ethical standards that may relate to IREN’s business, including those that relate to Bitcoin and the Bitcoin mining industry and those that relate to any other services it offers, including laws and regulations related to data privacy, cybersecurity and the storage, use or processing of information and consumer laws; IREN’s ability to attract, motivate and retain senior management and qualified employees; increased risks to IREN’s global operations including, but not limited to, political instability, acts of terrorism, theft and vandalism, cyberattacks and other cybersecurity incidents and unexpected regulatory and economic sanctions changes, among other things; climate change, severe weather conditions and natural and man-made disasters that may materially adversely affect IREN’s business, financial condition and results of operations; public health crises, including an outbreak of an infectious disease (such as COVID-19) and any governmental or industry measures taken in response; IREN’s ability to remain competitive in dynamic and rapidly evolving industries; damage to IREN’s brand and reputation; expectations relating to Environmental, Social or Governance issues or reporting; the costs of being a public company; the increased regulatory and compliance costs of IREN ceasing to be a foreign private issuer and an emerging growth company, as a result of which we will be required, among other things, to file periodic reports and registration statements on U.S. domestic issuer forms with the SEC commencing with our next fiscal year, prepare our financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP rather than IFRS, and to modify certain of our policies to comply with corporate governance practices required of U.S. domestic issuers; and other important factors discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in IREN’s annual report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC on August 28, 2024 as such factors may be updated from time to time in its other filings with the SEC, accessible on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov and the Investor Relations section of IREN’s website at https://investors.iren.com.

These and other important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this investor update. Any forward-looking statement that IREN makes in this investor update speaks only as of the date of such statement. Except as required by law, IREN disclaims any obligation to update or revise, or to publicly announce any update or revision to, any of the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About IREN

IREN is a leading data center business powering the future of Bitcoin, AI and beyond utilizing 100% renewable energy.

• Bitcoin Mining: providing security to the Bitcoin network, expanding to 50 EH/s in H1 2025. Operations since 2019.
• AI Cloud Services: providing cloud compute to AI customers, 1,896 NVIDIA H100 & H200 GPUs. Operations since 2024.
• Next-Generation Data Centers: 460MW of operating data centers, expanding to 810MW in H1 2025. Specifically designed and purpose-built infrastructure for high-performance and power-dense computing applications.
• Technology: technology stack for performance optimization of AI Cloud Services and Bitcoin Mining operations.
• Development Portfolio: 2,310MW of grid-connected power secured across North America, >1,000 acre property portfolio and additional development pipeline.
• 100% Renewable Energy (from clean or renewable energy sources or through the purchase of RECs): targets sites with low-cost & underutilized renewable energy, and supports electrical grids and local communities.

Contacts

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