‹ IREN
Ch 2 · Raising and Spending Billions
Chapter 2 · Financial Health
IREN just raised $3B — and is spending $1.6B on Dell GPUs.
Bitcoin mining funds part of the build; the rest comes from convertibles and Dell financing.
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✦ The bottom line
IREN's bitcoin mining throws off $289M of operating cash in nine months. But the AI buildout is far bigger — $1.67B of capex so far this year, plus a new $3.0B convertible raise to fund what's next.
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✦ Teach me
Real cash left over
Operating cash minus what a company spends on data centers and GPUs. For IREN, operating cash is positive — but the capex bill is so large that the free-cash gap has to be filled with debt and new shares.
Wall Street calls this
Free cash flow
Who pays for the build — the business itself, debt, or new stock — tells you what risk you're taking on.
The engine that's already running · operating cash
$289
M
$289M of operating cash from bitcoin mining and early AI cloud over nine months — IREN is one of the rare pre-pivot companies producing cash, not just consuming it.
Source · 10-Q · Statements of Cash Flows (net cash from operations) · 9M FY26 · Filed May 8, 2026
$289 million of operating cash is real — but the AI buildout costs orders of magnitude more. Land, transformers, racks, networking, and especially Nvidia GPUs add up to billions per facility. Look at what IREN has already spent in nine months, and you see why operating cash alone can't fund the pivot.
The build · capex, nine months
$1.67
B
$1.67B of capital spending in nine months — far more than the operating cash. The gap has to come from somewhere.
Source · 10-Q · Statements of Cash Flows (purchases of property and equipment) · 9M FY26 · Filed May 8, 2026
Where it comes from is the financial-health story. IREN just closed a big convertible-bond raise to fund the next phase. Convertibles are bonds that can turn into stock — they cost less in interest (a 1% coupon) but, if the stock rises, eventually dilute existing owners. It's how growth-stage companies fund a build without breaking the bank today.
The fuel · new convertible notes
$3.0
B
Net proceeds of ~$2.96B from a $3B convertible-notes offering (1% coupon, 2033). Funds the AI build now; risks shareholder dilution later if shares rise.
Source · 8-K · Item 8.01 — press release (closing of convertible notes offering) · Q4 FY26 · Filed May 14, 2026
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Positive operating cash, but the AI build needs billions in debt — and likely more raises ahead.
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Chapter 2 · FINANCIAL HEALTH
Raising and Spending Billions
you now read: real cash left over (free cash flow)
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Then
Chapter 4 · MANAGEMENT
The Roberts Brothers
Chapter 5 · BEHIND THE NUMBERS
The Story Behind the Numbers
Chapter 6 · RISK
The Pivot's Tightrope