IREN, one of the largest self-operated Bitcoin miners in the United States, has garnered significant attention on Wall Street following its impressive performance and strategic pivot towards artificial intelligence. Analysts at Bernstein have raised their price target for IREN to $75 from $20, suggesting an optimistic 80% upside potential. This comes as the company distances itself from traditional co-location partnerships, like those with CoreWeave, and instead focuses on developing its own AI cloud services.
Having dramatically increased its stock price over the past year, IREN has risen more than eight-fold from its 52-week low of $5.13 recorded in April, boasting an impressive year-over-year increase of 365%. Bernstein now views IREN’s transition into the AI sector as credible, overcoming initial doubts about its ability to effectively execute a capital-intensive data center construction and operate in competition with established AI cloud providers connected to major hyperscalers and Nvidia.
The company is forecasting significant growth, with expectations of reaching $500 million in annual recurring revenue by the first quarter of 2026, dependent on the deployment of 23,300 GPUs, an increase from approximately $14 million projected for the first quarter of 2025. This ambitious target highlights IREN’s commitment to expanding its AI capabilities while leveraging its existing resources.
In addition to its AI ambitions, IREN maintains a robust 3 gigawatt (GW) power portfolio, allowing for a flexible approach that balances bitcoin mining and AI workloads to maximize revenue per megawatt. With a 50 EH/s mining operation, the company is projected to generate around $600 million in annualized EBITDA at current Bitcoin prices, which is expected to fund its expansion into AI.
Bernstein analysts have adapted their valuation approach to a sum-of-parts model, assigning 87% of IREN’s enterprise value to its AI cloud and co-location potential at its 2GW site in West Texas, with the remaining 13% attributed to bitcoin mining activities. At the newly adjusted target price, IREN would trade at $7.5 million per megawatt, positioning it above many other AI-focused miners, yet still significantly below established data center competitors like CoreWeave. This gap suggests that there is ample opportunity for further multiple expansion as the company continues its growth trajectory.
In recent trading, IREN’s shares surged by 11% in pre-market sessions, emphasizing the market’s positive reaction to the miner’s strategic enhancements and future growth potential.
