--- title: "IREN Is Quietly Outpacing CoreWeave on One AI Metric that Matters" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/296258675.md" description: "According to The Futurum Group's latest Neocloud Efficiency Ledger, IREN leads AI infrastructure providers in contracted revenue per megawatt, surpassing CoreWeave and Galaxy Digital. This metric highlights IREN's efficiency in monetizing its secured power capacity, estimated at $40 million per megawatt. While CoreWeave holds a larger absolute backlog, the ranking underscores the growing importance of power resources over GPU clusters in evaluating AI cloud providers' commercial effectiveness." datetime: "2026-08-18T17:51:10.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/296258675.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/296258675.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/296258675.md) --- # IREN Is Quietly Outpacing CoreWeave on One AI Metric that Matters The AI infrastructure race is usually measured by GPU clusters, hyperscaler contracts or multibillion-dollar backlogs. But a new ranking suggests investors may want to watch a different metric: how much contracted revenue companies generate from every megawatt of AI capacity. By that measure, **IREN Limited** (NASDAQ:IREN) is quietly ahead of some of the sector’s biggest names — including **CoreWeave, Inc.** (NASDAQ:CRWV). **• IREN stock is among today’s weakest performers. What’s behind IREN decline?** ## **IREN Leads CoreWeave on Contracted Revenue per Megawatt** A new Neocloud Efficiency Ledger published by The Futurum Group ranks AI cloud and high-performance computing providers by contracted revenue per megawatt, a metric designed to measure how efficiently companies monetize AI infrastructure. > $IREN leads the Neocloud/HPC provider contracted revenue per megawatt. Here are the top 10. 👀🚀 pic.twitter.com/ANm4et68Wv > > — Daniel Newman (@danielnewmanUV) August 17, 2026 IREN topped the list with an estimated $40 million in contracted revenue per megawatt, ahead of **Galaxy Digital** at roughly $29 million and CoreWeave at approximately $28 million. The ranking also included **Hut 8 Corp.** (NASDAQ:HUT), **Applied Digital Corp** (NASDAQ:APLD), **TeraWulf Inc.** (NASDAQ:WULF), **Nebius Group N.V.** (NASDAQ:NBIS) and **Core Scientific, Inc.** (NASDAQ:CORZ). **Daniel Newman**, CEO of The Futurum Group, highlighted the findings on X, writing: “$IREN leads the Neocloud/HPC provider contracted revenue per megawatt. Here are the top 10.” According to Futurum, the metric divides total contracted revenue over the life of customer agreements by contracted AI/HPC capacity, offering a way to compare how effectively providers convert scarce power resources into long-term commercial commitments. The firm notes that the comparison is directional because contract structures and capacity definitions differ across companies. **Read Also: EXCLUSIVE: Nvidia Is Helping This AI Company Get 'Better Intelligence Per Dollar'** ## **Why Revenue per Megawatt Matters for AI Infrastructure** The ranking reflects a broader shift in how investors evaluate AI infrastructure companies. GPUs remain essential, but power has increasingly become the industry’s limiting resource. Securing land, substations and grid access can take years, making available megawatts one of the most valuable assets AI cloud providers own. Viewed through that lens, revenue per megawatt offers a different perspective than total backlog or quarterly revenue. Rather than rewarding the biggest platform, it highlights how efficiently a company monetizes the capacity it has already contracted. That helps explain why IREN can lead this ranking despite CoreWeave reporting a $104 billion backlog, one of the largest in the industry. The two metrics measure different things: CoreWeave reflects absolute scale, while Futurum’s ledger focuses on revenue generated relative to contracted AI capacity. That’s our interpretation of the data; Futurum presents revenue per megawatt as a comparative efficiency metric rather than a valuation tool. ## **IREN’s Power Strategy Is Beginning to Show Through** The ranking also underscores how IREN’s business has evolved. Originally known as a Bitcoin miner, the company has spent the past two years repositioning itself as an AI cloud infrastructure provider by leveraging its large secured power footprint. Futurum estimates IREN has access to approximately 5 gigawatts of total power while only about 350 megawatts are currently contracted for AI workloads, leaving a substantial portion of its power capacity available for future commercialization. The ledger estimates IREN’s contracted revenue backlog at roughly $14 billion, supported by major agreements that include **Microsoft Corp** (NASDAQ:MSFT) and **NVIDIA Corp** (NASDAQ:NVDA), while noting that much of its secured power remains undeployed. ## **What IREN Investors Should Watch Next** The Futurum ranking doesn’t suggest IREN is the largest AI infrastructure company, nor does it guarantee superior financial performance. It does, however, introduce a metric that could become increasingly relevant as power — not GPUs — emerges as the industry’s scarcest resource. For investors, the next question is whether IREN can convert its remaining gigawatts into additional long-term AI contracts while maintaining the revenue efficiency that currently puts it ahead of larger rivals such as CoreWeave. **Read Also: Why Elon Musk Thinks AI Is Getting Cheaper, Not Just Smarter** _Image via Shutterstock_ ### Related Stocks - [GLXY.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/GLXY.US.md) - [IREN.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/IREN.US.md) - [CRWV.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/CRWV.US.md) - [BRPHF.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BRPHF.US.md) - [GLXU.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/GLXU.US.md) - [GLGG.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/GLGG.US.md) - [IREX.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/IREX.US.md) - [IRE.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/IRE.US.md) - [IREZ.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/IREZ.US.md) - [CORD.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/CORD.US.md) - [CRWG.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/CRWG.US.md) - [CRWU.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/CRWU.US.md) - [CWVX.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/CWVX.US.md) - [CWY.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/CWY.US.md) - [HUT.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/HUT.US.md) - [APLD.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/APLD.US.md) - [WULF.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/WULF.US.md) - [NBIS.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NBIS.US.md) - [CORZ.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/CORZ.US.md) - [MSFT.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/MSFT.US.md) - [NVDA.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDA.US.md) - [CORZZ.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/CORZZ.US.md) - [CORZW.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/CORZW.US.md) - [NVD.DE](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVD.DE.md) ## Related News & Research - [BUZZ-AI storage firm Backblaze stabilizes after boosted $175 mln convertible offering](https://longbridge.com/en/news/296479463.md) - [A Major Catalyst Could Boost CoreWeave and Nebius Margins by Up to 1,000 Basis Points, Says BofA](https://longbridge.com/en/news/296138755.md) - [CoreWeave Says Data Center Moratoriums Won’t Stop AI Expansion: ‘They Are Going to Impact Where This Infrastructure Gets Built’](https://longbridge.com/en/news/295615172.md) - [Galaxy Digital director Douglas Deason reports purchase of 12,000 shares valued at $258,432](https://longbridge.com/en/news/295923022.md) - [CoreWeave and Nebius Group Deliver Earnings Shocker. 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