TheBlock
Hut 8 signed a second 15-year, $9.8 billion lease at its Beacon Point campus in Texas, fully commercializing the 1-gigawatt site and doubling its investment-grade tenant's contracted capacity to 704 MW. Hours later, IREN raised its year-end 2026 AI Cloud revenue target to more than $4 billion, up from $3.7 billion, after signing $2.8 billion in new customer contracts. Roughly 85% of the revised target is now under contract.
Why it matters
Back-to-back announcements from two of the most aggressive BTC miners pivoting into AI infrastructure show that the bottleneck in the AI buildout has shifted from GPUs to gigawatts. Investment-grade counterparties are willing to sign 15-year fixed-revenue leases on Texas power, and miners are the only operators sitting on shovel-ready, grid-interconnected sites at that scale. Hut 8's lease economics imply roughly $1.4M per MW per year in contracted revenue, a multiple of what a comparable bitcoin mining site could clear at current hash prices.
Market impact
Shares of both companies climbed double digits on the news. The IREN revenue raise and 85% coverage ratio gives the market a clearer line of sight to AI Cloud as a standalone business, not a side bet. For the broader miner-to-AI cohort, the deals set a pricing benchmark for long-dated power contracts and put pressure on peers without investment-grade tenants or grid-secured sites to either pivot harder or trade at a deeper discount to book.
Frequently asked questions
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What did Hut 8 announce about its Beacon Point campus in Texas?
Hut 8 signed a second 15-year, $9.8 billion lease at its 1 GW Beacon Point campus, fully commercializing the site and doubling its investment-grade tenant's contracted capacity to 704 MW.
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How much did IREN raise its AI Cloud revenue target for 2026?
IREN raised its year-end 2026 AI Cloud revenue target to more than $4 billion, up from $3.7 billion, after signing $2.8 billion in new customer contracts.
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How much of IREN's revised 2026 AI Cloud target is already under contract?
Roughly 85% of IREN's revised $4 billion-plus 2026 AI Cloud revenue target is now under contract following the new $2.8 billion in customer agreements.
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Why are these deals significant for the broader crypto mining sector?
The pair of contracts sets a pricing benchmark for long-dated AI power leases and puts pressure on mining peers without investment-grade tenants or grid-secured Texas sites to either pivot harder into AI or trade at a deeper discount.
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What implied pricing does the Hut 8 lease suggest per megawatt?
The $9.8 billion lease economics imply roughly $1.4 million per MW per year in contracted revenue, a multiple of what a comparable BTC mining site could clear at current hash prices.
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