<div id="readability-page-1"><div> <h2>Key Points</h2><ul><li>IREN reported its fiscal third quarter earnings, showing declines, as the company pivots from Bitcoin miner to AI cloud company. </li><li>The company announced two acquisitions that will expand IREN's reach into AI cloud services, and geographically to Europe. </li><li>The company also closed a deal with Nvidia to deploy Nvidia's new DSX reference design across most of its 5 GW footprint. </li><li>10 stocks we like better than Iren ›</li></ul>Shares of AI neocloud IREN Limited (NASDAQ: IREN) rallied 39.6% in May, according to data from S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence.May was a very active month for IREN, which included third-quarter earnings, a new formal partnership with Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), and a couple of acquisitions. Coming off a stock price downturn amid concerns over higher interest rates during the prior month, the positive developments catapulted IREN's stock in May.Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an &#34;Indispensable Monopoly&#34; providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue »<h2>IREN reports, announces big deals</h2>On May 5, IREN reported third-quarter results, with revenue declining 21.6% to $144.8 million, while adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) fell 20% quarter-over-quarter to $59.5 million. Those don't look like great results, but actual results are kind of beside the point for IREN, which is intentionally ramping down its Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) mining business while pivoting to becoming an AI neocloud. Bitcoin mining still accounts for a majority of revenue, which explains the decline in revenue and profit, even as AI cloud services nearly doubled quarter over quarter. More important to IREN were the flurry of operational milestones and acquisitions announced during the month. In early May, IREN announced the energization of the substation that will power its massive Sweetwater 1.4 gigawatt (GW) data center, which is part of a broader 2 GW site. The move shows confidence in the Sweetwater site, IREN's largest, which is slated to ramp up construction in 2027.IREN followed up that announcement with two acquisitions. At the beginning of May, IREN announced it was buying Mirantis, a cloud services provider, for $625 million in stock, and then Nostrum Group, a data center developer in Spain. The deal amount for Nostrum wasn't formally announced, but analysts estimate it was roughly 165 million euros, split between cash and stock.Mirantis has 1,500 enterprise clients, helping businesses operate and run AI data centers, including bare-metal and Kubernetes environments. The acquisition should help IREN's vertical integration efforts into customer-facing services and boost its technical expertise, along with Mirantis' existing revenue and profits. Nostrum Group paves the way for IREN to expand into Europe by acquiring Nostrum's 490 MW of grid-connected power and its existing development pipeline in Spain, which has low-cost power and an AI-friendly regulatory regime. <img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://g.foolcdn.com/image//query-dXJsPWh0dHBzOi8vZy5mb29sY2RuLmNvbS9lZGl0b3JpYWwvaW1hZ2VzLzg3MzE3MS9nZXR0eWltYWdlcy0xMzQwNTY3MTQ4LTEuanBnJnc9NzAw?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" width="700" height="406" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://g.foolcdn.com/image//query-dXJsPWh0dHBzOi8vZy5mb29sY2RuLmNvbS9lZGl0b3JpYWwvaW1hZ2VzLzg3MzE3MS9nZXR0eWltYWdlcy0xMzQwNTY3MTQ4LTEuanBnJnc9NzAw"/>Image source: Getty Images. However, perhaps the most consequential announcement of the month was a new partnership announcement with Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA). The two companies agreed to support the deployment of up to 5 GW of Nvidia DSX AI factory architecture over time, while Nvidia also received a five-year warrant to buy 30 million shares of IREN stock at a strike price of $70 per share. Additionally, IREN secured a five-year, $3.4 billion cloud contract with Nvidia, apparently for Nvidia's own internal use. This is a pretty interesting development. Nvidia is the main vendor of AI GPUs for IREN, which IREN would deploy in data centers and rent to AI companies or major cloud computing vendors such as Microsoft. However, it appears Nvidia would like the option to deploy 5 GW, or essentially all of IREN's current capacity, for its own custom DSX architecture. While the end customer of that deployment is uncertain, it appears that Nvidia likes IREN's massive footprint of low-priced, grid-connected land and may want to take at least partial ownership of it. That suggests Nvidia either wants to use the capacity for its own software offerings, or rent it out itself to potentially bypass cloud middlemen like Microsoft. While the ultimate aims of the partnership are unclear, any endorsement from Nvidia is likely to boost a stock.<h2>IREN still has a chicken-and-egg problem</h2>In May, IREN made significant operational progress in execution, expansion, and deepening its relationship with Nvidia. However, it will still need to raise substantial capital to fund its build-out. The stock price is still below $70, so not quite at the range where Nvidia would buy equity in the company.IREN did make progress on the funding front as well, raising nearly $3 billion in convertible notes later in the month. Thanks to the stock's rise at the beginning of May, IREN was able to sell these 1% notes with a conversion feature at around $73 per share; however, IREN also bought capped calls with some of the proceeds to raise the conversion strike to over $110. All in all, IREN demonstrated its immense ambition with the May acquisitions, gained increased confidence with the Nvidia announcement, and raised more money at what appear to be good rates. It remains to be seen whether it can fund its entire build-out and whether AI-related computing demand will sustain for many years. However, if things work out, IREN has very high upside -- though it also carries significant risks.<h2>Should you buy stock in Iren right now?</h2> Before you buy stock in Iren, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Iren wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $439,632!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,316,532!* Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 959% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 210% for the S&amp;P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 5, 2026. Billy Duberstein and/or his clients have positions in Bitcoin, Iren, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc. </div></div>

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IREN Limited shares surged nearly 40% in May, driven by its strategic pivot from Bitcoin mining to AI cloud services. Key catalysts included Q3 earnings, acquisitions of Mirantis and Nostrum Group for vertical integration and European expansion, and a major partnership with Nvidia involving a $3.4 billion contract and deployment of DSX architecture across 5 GW of capacity.

Why IREN Limited Rallied Almost 40% in May