IREN has acquired Nostrum, a Spanish developer of AI data centers, marking the bitcoin miner’s entry into the European market. The deal underscores IREN’s strategic pivot from cryptocurrency mining to high-performance computing infrastructure.
The acquisition gives IREN a foothold in Spain’s growing data center sector, with Nostrum bringing development expertise and pipeline projects. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Bitcoin miners have faced margin pressure following the 2024 halving, prompting firms like IREN to diversify into AI and cloud services. The move aligns with a broader industry trend where mining operators repurpose their energy assets for compute-intensive workloads.
IREN now holds AI infrastructure projects across multiple continents, though specific revenue contributions or timelines for the European expansion remain unspecified. The company continues to operate its bitcoin mining operations alongside these new ventures.
While the acquisition diversifies IREN’s business model, risks include execution challenges in a new geographic market and the capital-intensive nature of data center development. Rivals like CoreWeave and Hut 8 have also pursued similar hybrid strategies.