Mining company Iris Energy has announced plans to increase its own bitcoin hashrate to 9.1 EH/s by early 2024.
$IREN today announced:
— 80MW Childress construction underway, target increase in potential data center capacity from 5.6 EH/s to ~9.1 EH/s by early 2024
– Long-lead items to unlock ~13.6 EH/s
— Prior HPC data center strategy revitalized
— Limited recourse financing update— Iris Energy (@irisenergyco) June 20, 2023
A corresponding increase from the current operating hash rate of 5.6 EH/s will ensure the completion of the first phase of the 100 MW data center in Childpress, Texas.
The company is considering expanding the facility by another 100 MW. In total, this will support approximately 13.6 EH/s in the long run. These plans are related to the proposed purchase of Antminer S19 XP ASIC miners from Bitmain. So far, Iris Energy is monitoring the market “for the best opportunities” to acquire equipment.
The firm also updated its HPC strategy (HPC). As part of the diversification, this line of business in the company was given the status of a parallel to the main one – mining. Iris Energy has spent the last 3-4 years exploring potential steps in this area, with Dell Technologies as a partner.
In order to develop HPC, Iris Energy decided to expand the use of the company’s existing data centers for cryptocurrency mining, as well as take into account the capacities of enterprises under construction.
“Development in this sector continues to accelerate, including growth in computing power and demand for clean energy. Recent discussions with market participants have further confirmed the soundness of the preliminary work and that it may be the right time to expand here,” Iris Energy said.
As of May 31, the company had about $64 million in free cash. According to Iris Energy, this capital, the absence of debt and operating cash flow from existing mining facilities, make it possible to assess the financial position as stable.
“In the near term, we will continue to focus on the construction of data centers, while maintaining flexibility regarding the timing of the purchase of miners, which depends on funding and market conditions,” the firm said in a statement.
In November 2022, two subsidiaries of Iris Energy received a default notice on a total debt of $103 million. It was about specialized subsidiaries registered to purchase equipment against its security. The firm said the litigation is still ongoing.
Recall that in the fourth quarter of 2022, Iris Energy recorded a loss of $144 million.
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