--- title: "$2.1 Billion Investment in IREN Expands Data Center \"Circle of Friends\" as NVIDIA Continues Its \"AI Loop\"" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/285647028.md" description: "NVIDIA announced an investment of up to $2.1 billion in data center developer IREN and signed a $3.4 billion AI cloud computing contract for the deployment of its latest Blackwell processors. The two parties will jointly develop the Sweetwater campus in Texas, with a planned capacity of 5 gigawatts" datetime: "2026-05-08T01:32:10.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/285647028.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/285647028.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/285647028.md) --- # $2.1 Billion Investment in IREN Expands Data Center "Circle of Friends" as NVIDIA Continues Its "AI Loop" NVIDIA has made another move, continuing its "AI loop" investment strategy. On Thursday, May 7, NVIDIA announced an investment of up to $2.1 billion in data center developer IREN. The two parties also signed a multi-billion dollar agreement on computing power deployment, further deepening NVIDIA's capital layout within the AI ecosystem. Under the agreement, **NVIDIA will be granted a five-year option to purchase up to 30 million shares of IREN.** Meanwhile, **IREN announced a $3.4 billion AI cloud computing contract with NVIDIA for the procurement and deployment of NVIDIA's Blackwell series processors.** This investment has once again drawn attention to NVIDIA's "churning" model—whereby NVIDIA continuously takes equity stakes in companies that purchase its chips. Critics argue that this approach is self-reinforcing in nature and creates a cycle of interests. Following the announcement, IREN's stock price rose by 10% in after-hours trading before narrowing its gains to approximately 7%, while NVIDIA's stock price remained largely unchanged. ## IREN Equity for Computing Power, Securing Long-Term Cooperation According to the joint statement released by both parties on Thursday, IREN granted NVIDIA a five-year warrant with an exercise price of $70 per share, allowing for the purchase of up to 30 million shares, corresponding to a maximum investment of $2.1 billion. In terms of computing power, IREN and NVIDIA signed a $3.4 billion AI cloud computing contract to procure and deploy NVIDIA's latest generation of Blackwell processors. **The two parties plan to jointly develop large-scale data centers, with NVIDIA providing hardware equipment and IREN responsible for land acquisition, power supply assurance, and other infrastructure construction.** The core project of the collaboration is IREN's Sweetwater campus in Texas, which currently has a planned capacity of 2 gigawatts. **Under the plan, the campus's computing capacity will gradually expand to 5 gigawatts over time.** For reference, one gigawatt of power capacity can supply approximately 750,000 households at any given time. IREN was co-founded by Australian brothers Daniel Roberts and Will Roberts. Originally named Iris Energy, the company initially focused on Bitcoin mining before transitioning to focus on AI computing infrastructure. This strategic transformation has been fully validated in the capital markets—the company's stock price soared by 285% last year and has risen by another 51% so far in 2026. Prior to NVIDIA's investment, IREN had already accumulated a significant base of major clients. Microsoft signed an agreement worth approximately $9.7 billion last year to purchase AI computing power from IREN, making it one of the company's important revenue sources. On the same day it reached an agreement with NVIDIA, IREN also announced the acquisition of Spanish data center developer Ingenostrum SL to support its global expansion goals. ## NVIDIA's "AI Loop": Accelerating Ecosystem Investments This is not NVIDIA's only recent capital move. Wallstreetcn mentioned that just one day before announcing the IREN deal, NVIDIA had purchased a share subscription option in fiber optic cable manufacturer Corning Inc. for $500 million. Previously, NVIDIA had also taken stakes in AI developers such as OpenAI, as well as chip industry peers like Marvell Technology, aiming to drive the expansion of the entire industry ecosystem. NVIDIA also holds shares in IREN's competitors, including CoreWeave and Nebius Group NV. **The intensive equity investments have sparked criticism, with some arguing that NVIDIA is essentially funding companies that buy its own chips, constituting "churning."** In response, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang addressed the CoreWeave investment in January this year. Huang stated: > **This is just a small fraction of the total amount they ultimately need to raise. To call this circular—it is completely absurd.** ### Related Stocks - [NVDA.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDA.US.md) - [NVDU.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDU.US.md) - [IRE.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/IRE.US.md) - [IREX.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/IREX.US.md) - [NVDX.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDX.US.md) - [NVDL.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDL.US.md) - [07788.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/07788.HK.md) - [07388.HK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/07388.HK.md) - [NVDY.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDY.US.md) - [NVDD.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDD.US.md) - [NVDQ.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDQ.US.md) - [SOXL.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/SOXL.US.md) ## Related News & Research - [IREN Stock Rockets 26% on NVIDIA Infrastructure Deal and European Expansion](https://longbridge.com/en/news/285621111.md) - [Nvidia Director's $200 Million AI Gift Puts USC Back In The Race](https://longbridge.com/en/news/285419613.md) - [Here's why Nvidia stock popped today](https://longbridge.com/en/news/285417685.md) - [Options traders love this under-the-radar AI play](https://longbridge.com/en/news/285600081.md) - [IREN Expands AI Cloud Platform to Europe with Acquisition of Nostrum Group | IREN Stock News](https://longbridge.com/en/news/285615310.md)