Iris Energy Acquires 7,000 Next-Gen T21 Bitcoin Miners in Deal With Bitmain

The Australia-based and Nasdaq-listed Iris Energy recently announced the acquisition of 1.3 exahash per second (EH/s) capacity in Bitmain’s latest Antminer T21 models. This purchase boosts Iris Energy’s proprietary mining capacity to a notable 8.3 EH/s.

Iris Energy Secures 1.3 EH/s in Latest Bitmain Deal

Iris Energy (Nasdaq: IREN) announced on Thursday its procurement of 7,000 next-generation T21 bitcoin (BTC) miners from Bitmain Technologies. The deal, amounting to roughly $18.6 million, translates to a cost of $14 per terahash. Bitmain has agreed to postpone 20% of this sum until May 30, 2024, while Iris Energy plans to settle the balance through structured payments.

At the end of October, Bitmain introduced the T21 series, an air-cooled unit boasting up to 190 terahash per second (TH/s) capacity and a 19 joules per terahash (J/T) efficiency rating. Iris Energy highlighted that these T21 units’ enhanced efficiency ratio will elevate their entire fleet’s performance from 29.5 J/TH to 25.8 J/TH.

Concurrently, Iris is advancing an 80 megawatt (MW) expansion at its Childress facility, targeting a 10 EH/s capacity by the second quarter of 2024. “Early works and procurement for the next 100MW of data centers at Childress have commenced, with 600MW of total power available on site,” Iris disclosed on Thursday.

The latest move by Iris follows a trend of major firms securing thousands of mining rigs from Bitmain and Microbt. Earlier in the month, Hive Digital purchased 4,800 Bitmain S19k bitcoin miners, and Cleanspark obtained 4.4 EH/s capacity in Bitmain’s new S21 model Antminers. Moreover, Northern Data’s subsidiary, Peak Mining, has acquired equipment from Bitmain’s competitor, Microbt.

In a related move mid-October, Iris invested $19.6 million in Bitmain’s S21 Antminers. Following Thursday’s announcement, Iris’ stock saw an approximate 6% rise, with a 43% increase over the past 30 days. Year-to-date, IREN shares have soared by over 293%, as per data from Tradingview.

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