Iris Energy stock gains as bitcoin miner lays out expansion plan

Iris Energy ( NASDAQ: IREN ) stock gapped up 14.6% in Tuesday morning trading as the eco-friendly bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) miner said it's planning to boost its data center capacity to 9.1 exahash per second (EH/s) by early 2024, from the current 5.6 EH/s . In addition, the company said it's reviving its high-performance computing ("HPC") data center strategy in the wake of surging interest in artificial intelligence. In other words, Iris ( IREN ) is preparing for more demand for data center space for AI, as "developments continue to accelerate in the sector, including the growth of computing power and clean energy requirements," it said. "Significant time was invested in exploring the [HPC] strategy ~3-4 years ago, including signing a strategic memorandum of understanding with Dell Technologies in March 2020 to test and develop potential data center solutions for energy intensive compute applications, including leveraging Dell Technologies’ HPC and artificial intelligence expertise," the company added. IREN's upswing also comes as bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) rises 1.3% to $26.77K at the time of writing. More on Iris Energy and its growth prospects Iris Energy mines 59% more bitcoins in May Iris Energy upgraded to Overweight at Cantor on expectations that further hash rate growth will be achieved Iris Energy: Transaction Fees Change Everything