Cloud infrastructure stocks surge 10% as Hut 8, IREN seal $12.6B in deals

AI infrastructure demand shows no signs of slowing as Hut 8 and IREN announce a combined $12.6 billion in new data center contracts, sending cloud computing stocks sharply higher.

The AI infrastructure buildout accelerated Monday as Hut 8 and IREN announced a combined $12.6 billion in new data center contracts, sending cloud computing stocks surging across the sector.

The second 15-year lease at Hut 8's Texas facility "completes the commercialization of the entire campus," the company said in a statement, adding that the tenant is an investment-grade entity.

Hut 8's latest agreement covers 352 megawatts of IT capacity, doubling the tenant's total leased space at Beacon Point to 704 MW. The company redesigned its initial data hall using Nvidia's infrastructure blueprint, boosting capacity by 57 percent without expanding its physical footprint. IREN separately disclosed $2.8 billion in new multiyear cloud agreements and raised its annualized run-rate revenue target for AI cloud services to more than $4 billion, up from $3.7 billion.

The contract flurry shows demand for AI computing infrastructure remains strong, with former Bitcoin miners like Hut 8 and IREN repurposing their power resources for data center operations. Hut 8 shares have roughly doubled in 2026, giving the company a market capitalization of about $10.3 billion, while IREN's premarket surge reflected investor optimism that the AI cloud buildout still has room to run.

Former Miners Find a Second Act in AI

Hut 8 originally operated as a Bitcoin mining company before transitioning toward AI infrastructure services. The company now represents part of a broader trend of crypto miners repurposing their power resources and data center expertise to support artificial intelligence workloads. IREN, based in Australia, followed a similar path, and its latest contract wins pushed its total contracted AI infrastructure capacity higher alongside Hut 8's 949 MW portfolio.

The combined base-term contract value across Hut 8's entire data center portfolio now totals $26.6 billion, with every agreement leased to or guaranteed by investment-grade entities. Should all extension options at Beacon Point be activated, the campus alone could generate as much as $50.2 billion in total value.

Hut 8 shares trade at 36.74 times sales, a multiple that reflects expectations for substantial future expansion rather than current profitability — the company posts negative earnings, and insiders have sold $12.2 million in shares during the past three months without any purchases. IREN's raised ARR target of more than $4 billion suggests the market has not fully priced in the pace of AI cloud adoption, even as competitors like CoreWeave and Nebius also gained ground Monday.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.