IREN Co-CEO Daniel Roberts Says Firm’s Data Centers Carry No Debt As Funding Worries Hit Stock

• After recent pressure on the IREN stock, co-CEO Daniel Roberts said that the company's data centers are supported fully by cash, and the company had no debt against assets.
• Under recent three-year contracts, customer prepayments cover 45% to 55% of GPU expenses, Roberts said.
• IREN's Microsoft agreement covered 96% of GPU expenses, with prepayments at 6%, and non-investment payment-grade customers paid 9%.

Shares of IREN Limited (IREN) edged lower in pre-market trading on Tuesday after co-CEO Daniel Roberts said that the company's data centers did not carry any debt. Roberts responded to investors' concern over how the artificial intelligence (AI) cloud providers will fund their expansion.

Roberts said on X that IREN has paid for their data center construction in cash so far. Adding to it, he said that the sites can support their own financing once they come online with contracted customers. Robert laid out the process step by step. Customers must first sign multi-year take-or-pay contracts, which require payment whether or not they use the capacity. On recent three-year deals, he said prepayments covered 45% to 55% of the cost of the graphics processing units (GPUs).

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He added that lenders mostly fund the rest, with the GPUs serving as collateral. Robert added that Iren's Microsoft (MSFT) contract was supported by an A-rated facility at 6% or so. That, plus prepayments, accounts for 96% of the GPU spending. One customer without an investment-grade rating at Iren's McKenzie site in British Columbia was borrowing at a fixed 9%. 

The loan and prepayment more than pay for the whole cost of the GPU, the co-CEO added. He acknowledged that future debt will price at whatever the market charges. But he said a payback of about 2 years on recent contracts means "a wider spread barely moves the economics."

Demand Outruns Build Capacity

According to Roberts, customer demand exceeds what IREN can build. The company's 2026 capacity is largely sold out, he added, saying recent 3-year contracts are priced at more than double last year's level. Demand for capacity arriving in 2027 is several times oversubscribed, and discussions on 2028 have begun. The holdup in the industry is not signing deals, he said. Getting GPUs online is the issue, as announced capacity keeps sleeping across the sector.

Pressure On Neocoloud Stocks Continue

Neoclouds, the specialized AI cloud providers, have been under pressure through the past week. The stock has been down over 20% over the past week. Investors became increasingly worried after debt pressures at CoreWeave (CRWV) and a research firm warned that over 80% of neoclouds might no longer be able to operate independently by 2030.

Retail Chatter For IREN Surges 

IREN stock was down over 4% in pre-market trade, trading at $26. On Stocktwits retail sentiment around IREN remained in the ‘extremely bullish’ zone, with ‘high’ chatter levels over the past day. According to platform data, chatter around IREN has been up over 952% over the past 30 days.

One user on Stocktwits said that the IREN stock had erased all of the previous day's gain, and it would need to rise 70% to reach above $46 again. 

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