IREN (IREN) co-founder Daniel Roberts outlined an ambitious vision for the company as a vertically integrated AI infrastructure platform in a lengthy post on X on Friday, arguing that the biggest bottleneck in artificial intelligence is no longer the chips, but the physical infrastructure.
“Demand for AI is growing exponentially. Infrastructure is not,” Roberts wrote, noting growing constraints around power, land, cooling and data center construction.
Roberts said IREN’s strategy is based on three layers: physical infrastructure, such as data centers and power, computing infrastructure including NVIDIA GPUs and servers, and enterprise software and operational tools.
“Layers 1 and 2 are where the vast majority of IREN value is created today,” Roberts wrote. “Layer 3 is where that advantage compounds even more over time.”
The company, formerly known as Iris Energy, has expanded beyond bitcoin mining into artificial intelligence infrastructure, a broader trend that has been seen in the industry, with projects spanning Texas, British Columbia, Oklahoma, Spain and Australia. Roberts said IREN has secured approximately 5 gigawatts of grid-connected capacity globally.
He argued that owning the full stack creates a long-term competitive moat as demand for AI accelerates globally, particularly in underserved regions such as Europe and Asia-Pacific.
The thread also highlighted IREN’s growing relationship with NVIDIA (NVDA), including a recently announced $3.4 billion, five-year AI cloud contract tied to Blackwell GPU deployments in Texas.
Separately, WhiteFiber (WYFI) announced a five-year AI computing deal worth more than $160 million with an investment-grade technology client in France. The implementation will use NVIDIA GPUs and will expand WhiteFiber’s European presence.
WhiteFiber provides AI cloud and high-performance computing services using third-party data center infrastructure, while IREN focuses on owning and operating the underlying infrastructure itself.
WYFI stock rose 22% on Thursday and gained another 5% in premarket trading on Friday, while IREN stock gained 10% on Thursday.
