IREN becomes latest Bitcoin miner to hit 50 EH/s hashrate milestone while expanding AI infrastructure

Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin miner $IREN has joined rivals like $MARA and CleanSpark in reaching the 50 EH/s hashrate milestone, remaining competitive despite its AI diversification plans.

The milestone means $IREN hit its mid-year target of 50 EH/s of installed self-mining capacity, fueled by its 750MW Childress site in Texas, of which 650MW is now operational.

"Reaching 50 EH/s is a defining milestone and a testament to our ability to rapidly deliver complex energy and data center infrastructure," $IREN co-founder and co-CEO Daniel Roberts said in a statement late Monday. "In just 30 months, we've scaled organically ~50x to become one of the world's largest and most efficient Bitcoin miners."

Other top Bitcoin miners by hashrate currently include $MARA at 57.3 EH/s, CleanSpark at 50 EH/s, Riot Platforms at 33.7 EH/s, and Core Scientific at 19.1 EH/s, according to their latest disclosures. Bitcoin's current total network hashrate is estimated at around 842 EH/s. $IREN's 50 EH/s accounts for around 6% of this total, and these five companies represent approximately 25% combined.

$IREN is the fourth-largest public Bitcoin miner by market cap, valued at $3.5 billion, behind $MARA, Core Scientific, and Riot, worth $5.5 billion, $5.1 billion, and $4 billion, respectively.

$IREN's 50 EH/s platform aims to combine scale, efficiency, and financial resilience to endure Bitcoin market cycles and market volatility, according to the firm.

$IREN mined Bitcoin at a total cost of $41,000 per $BTC last quarter, benefiting from 15 J/TH efficiency, low-cost renewable energy, and vertical integration. For comparison, Bitcoin is currently trading for $106,542, according to The Block's $BTC price page.

Its structure is designed to provide downside protection and upside leverage, enabling increased production when higher-cost competitors exit. In contrast to some of its Bitcoin-accumulating rivals, $IREN sells Bitcoin daily to avoid balance sheet risk and ties performance directly to operations. A recent hardware refresh also eliminates near-term capex needs, while its only non-equity financing — convertible notes — preserves capital flexibility, the firm said.

"These fundamentals provide substantial capital and capacity to accelerate our AI strategy, delivering high-performance AI infrastructure for a new wave of compute demand," $IREN added.

$IREN is one of a number of Bitcoin miners, particularly Core Scientific, that have been diversifying their operations into serving the burgeoning AI and high-performance computing sectors.

Bitcoin mining ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) machines are not suitable for AI workloads. However, operators' underlying infrastructure — including lucrative power supply contracts, the physical sites, and advanced cooling systems — can be adapted for GPU-hosting, making AI data center diversification an attractive option for mining firms amid the LLM boom. $IREN provides GPU hosting infrastructure for its AI clients but does not supply the GPUs themselves.

Alongside Bitcoin mining, $IREN's Childress site also forms the foundation of its next phase of growth with Horizon 1 — a 50MW liquid-cooled AI data center, set for delivery in Q4 2025, according to the firm.

"With 50 EH/s of mining expansion complete, we’re now turning to our next frontier, leveraging the same execution discipline to scale AI infrastructure across high-growth compute markets," Roberts said.

Last month, $IREN announced its plans to raise $450 million via convertible senior notes, with the possibility of offering an additional $50 million.

Over the weekend, Bitcoin mining difficulty saw its biggest drop since the aftermath of the 2021 China ban amid an overall hashrate slump following an early summer heatwave in parts of the U.S.