IREN Ltd. shares rose nearly 5% in overnight trading on Sunday following a report that Anthropic privately tendered for $15 billion in cloud capacity in Australia, a development positioning the neocloud company as a potential contractor for the AI startup. The Australian Financial Review reported that Anthropic is seeking at least 1.4 gigawatts of cloud capacity from Australian data centers and wants a local company to build and operate a data center campus of that scale. The request for proposals, sent to CDC Data Centers, AirTrunk, NextDC, Iren, and Stack among others, culminated in initial proposals in March and on-site Canberra meetings in early April when Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei met Treasurer Jim Chalmers. As of Sunday, Anthropic was said to be at least six weeks away from a final decision, with expectations it could split the deal into four or five smaller contracts. The development fuels speculation around IREN's pivot from crypto mining to AI cloud computing amid surging demand for cloud capacity from AI firms and hyperscalers.
Anthropic Issues $15 Billion Cloud Capacity RFP in Australia
Anthropic's request for proposals landed on the desks of CDC Data Centers, AirTrunk, NextDC, Iren, and Stack, among other players, according to The Australian Financial Review. The RFP specified a requirement for at least 1.4 gigawatts of cloud capacity from Australian data centers. Initial proposals were submitted in March. A handful of parties were invited to on-site meetings in Canberra in early April, when Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei visited the city to meet Treasurer Jim Chalmers. As of Sunday, Anthropic was said to be at least six weeks away from making a final decision. The company was expected to split the deal into four or five smaller contracts rather than signing with just one data center landlord.
IREN Secures Microsoft and Nvidia Cloud Contracts
New South Wales-headquartered IREN has pivoted from pure-play crypto mining toward AI cloud computing. The company signed a landmark agreement with Microsoft in November 2025 that includes a 200-megawatt lease at its Childress facility. IREN also secured a five-year contract worth an estimated $9.7 billion tied to Nvidia's GB300 GPU capacity.
Retail Sentiment Turns Bullish on IREN Stocks
IREN trended among the top five tickers on Stocktwits late Sunday. Retail sentiment for the stock was 'bullish' as of the last reading, with message volume increasing by 336% over the past week. One trader wrote on Stocktwits: "BIG BIG NEWS!!! Probably the BIGGEST news ever!!! On twitter a huge account, Serenity, who has a MILLION followers and was a big IREN bear has now turned MEGA BULLISH along with another former bear, NightHawk Capital, and put a $500 target on IREN!!! Why? It leaked that ANTHROPIC is looking to BUY 1.4GW of data center capacity in Australia and ONLY IREN HAS THAT!"
About 41% of some 4,700 respondents to an ongoing Stocktwits poll said they would bet on Nebius as their cloud stock of choice; IREN was second with 23% of votes. IREN stock is up 3% year-to-date, based on its closing price on Thursday.
FAQ
What triggered IREN stock's 5% overnight rise on Sunday?
IREN Ltd. shares rose nearly 5% in overnight trading on Sunday after The Australian Financial Review reported that Anthropic privately tendered for $15 billion in cloud capacity in Australia. The request for proposals, which included IREN among the recipients, positioned the neocloud company as a potential contractor for the AI startup.
What cloud contracts has IREN secured?
IREN signed a landmark agreement with Microsoft in November 2025 that includes a 200-megawatt lease at its Childress facility. The company also secured a five-year contract worth an estimated $9.7 billion tied to Nvidia's GB300 GPU capacity.
