IREN hits $17B valuation: AI pivot after Bitcoin crash
IREN, the Sydney-headquartered data centre company founded by brothers Daniel and Will Roberts, now sits at a $17 billion market cap after pivoting from Bitcoin mining to AI infrastructure. The stock is up 300% this year.
The company nearly died in 2022. After going public in 2021, IREN's share price collapsed 95% during the crypto crash. Debtholders circled. The Roberts brothers, both ex-Macquarie bankers, made the call in 2023 to shift the business model: same renewable-powered data centres, different customers. Instead of mining Bitcoin, they would power AI compute.
It worked. Last fiscal year, IREN posted 168% revenue growth and $86M net profit. The company recently bought 9,000 Nvidia Blackwell chips. Early backer Mike Cannon-Brookes (Atlassian co-founder, via Grok family office) looks smart.
The commercial play
IREN operates primarily in North America (Texas, Canada) despite the Sydney HQ. The company has a Chief Commercial Officer leading sales, though specific team size and comp details are not public. Worth noting: Daniel and Will Roberts each earned $109M last year as Australia's top-paid CEOs. They recently cashed out $66M in shares.
The pitch is straightforward. IREN positions as renewable-powered AI infrastructure at scale, competing against traditional data centre operators and other Bitcoin miners pivoting to AI. Think TSMC meets Brookfield, but for compute.
What it means for ANZ
ANZ presence is limited to corporate functions in Sydney. Operations and commercial teams sit in North America. The company is hiring across commercial roles (job listings mention Commercial Associate positions), but expect most growth to be US-based.
IREN is now the world's most valuable publicly traded Bitcoin miner by market cap, though the business model has shifted. If it were ASX-listed, it would rank 37th by size. The AI thesis is working. Whether the valuation holds depends on data centre demand staying hot and renewable energy advantages holding up against hyperscaler competition.
No specific ANZ hiring plans or comp data available yet. Watch the Commercial Associate and account management roles for signals on local expansion.