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Hut 8, IREN sign AI deals
Bitcoin mining stocks surged as Hut 8 and IREN announced major artificial intelligence infrastructure contracts, with Hut 8 rising as much as 17% after signing a 15-year, $9.8 billion lease for the second phase of its Beacon Point AI data center campus in Texas.
“Bitcoin mining stocks rallied sharply on Tuesday after two major industry players unveiled large-scale artificial intelligence infrastructure contracts, signaling a deepening convergence between cryptocurrency mining and high-performance computing”
The Hut 8 agreement doubles the tenant’s footprint to 704 megawatts (MW) and fully commercializes the site’s 1 gigawatt of power capacity, while IREN gained as much as 19% after announcing $2.8 billion in new multiyear cloud services contracts with AI developers.
CoinDesk said the news eased concerns that demand for AI computing capacity may be slowing, after AI infrastructure companies stumbled in recent weeks as investors questioned whether breakneck spending on data centers would continue.
Cointelegraph similarly tied the rally to Hut 8’s 15-year, $9.8 billion lease and IREN’s $2.8 billion in cloud services contracts, framing the moves as a reinforcement of miners’ shift toward artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.
Cointelegraph added that IREN expects its AI cloud business to generate more than $4 billion in annual recurring revenue by the end of 2026, while the Energy Mag’s TEM AI Infrastructure Growth Index rose 1.4% on Monday and is up more than 12% over the past week.
Market reaction and named voices
The rally extended beyond Hut 8 and IREN, with Cointelegraph saying IREN, Cipher Digital, CleanSpark, Hut 8 and MARA Holdings each gained at least 11% in early Monday trading.
CoinDesk reported the share-price surge spilled over to peers across the high-performance compute sector, including Mining (CIFR) gaining 11% and TeraWulf (WULF) adding 6.4%.
CoinDesk also pointed to a cooling of earlier sentiment after Chinese firms released open-source AI models that appeared to require less computing power than Western rivals, and after reports that Meta Platforms was considering a cloud service to rent AI computing capacity.
In a separate account, crypto.news said Hut 8’s CEO Asher Genoot described the latest agreement as validation, quoting, "Our tenant at Beacon Point chose to double its footprint at the site, the strongest validation an asset can receive,".
crypto.news also quoted IREN co-founder and co-CEO Daniel Roberts saying, "Our vertically integrated AI Cloud platform is scaling at pace," as it described IREN’s raised target and contract coverage.
What’s at stake next
The deals are reshaping how investors view miners as hybrid crypto infrastructure platforms, with CoinDesk noting that the AI infrastructure companies’ stumble had been tied to questions about whether data center spending would continue.
Cointelegraph said the rally coincided with a broader recovery in technology shares, including the Nasdaq Composite Index adding 0.9% by midday and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index climbing 2% after entering a technical bear market last week.
Blocksbridge Consulting, as cited by Cointelegraph, said the AI pivot drove a sharp re-rating across the sector but also attracted greater investor scrutiny over insider stock sales, including insider sales at TeraWulf, Riot Platforms, Core Scientific and Cipher Mining.
CoinDesk added that CEX trading volumes rose for the first time in five months in June, with spot climbing 15.3% to $1.11T and RWA perpetual volumes surging to a record $311B, linking the broader market backdrop to the same period of renewed momentum.
CoinDesk also framed the central question as whether AI deals can provide sustainable growth beyond initial enthusiasm, while Cointelegraph said the AI pivot has already required substantial investment and that Blocksbridge estimates the industry will require another $50 billion to realize its AI ambitions, with IREN facing the largest funding gap at roughly $21.1 billion.
