Iris Energy to double hash rate in 2024 with $22M Bitmain T21 mining rig order

Renewable Bitcoin (BTC) mining firm Iris Energy is set to increase its total hash rate to 10 exahashes per second (EH/s) in 2024 by acquiring new Bitmain T21 mining rigs.

The company announced it had acquired an additional 1.6 EH/s of Bitmain T21 miners, set for delivery in the second quarter of 2024. The company currently has 5.6 EH/s of operational capacity as of December 2023.

The newest generation of Chinese manufacturer Bitmain’s mining hardware will also improve the efficiency of Iris’ operations from 29.5 joules per terahash (J/TH) to 24.8 J/TH. Iris invested $22.3 million in the latest order from Bitmain, pricing the hardware at $14 per terahash.

Iris expects to bring 1.4EH/s of mining output by powering up a previous order of Bitmain S21 miners in the first quarter. It is also awaiting a different batch of Bitmain T21 miners, increasing its capacity by 1.3 EH/s.

Iris announced the 80-megawatt (MW) expansion of its Childress data center operation in Texas in June 2023. The company has indicated that additional operational capacity will be delivered from January 2024, allowing for the increase in operating hash rate up to 10 EH/s as it receives new hardware from Bitmain.

The company also plans to build another 100 MW of data centers at the site, which is made possible by providing an additional 500 MW of power capacity that is already available to the operation.

While Iris has primarily been focused on Bitcoin mining, it has expanded its data center to service the growing demand for generative artificial intelligence computing. Iris invested $10 million in August to purchase 248 state-of-the-art Nvidia H100 GPUs, which are set to be delivered by the end of 2023.

The company currently operates data center facilities in different sites across North America, including Canal Flats, Mackenzie, Prince George in Canada’s British Columbia and its Childress site in Texas.

Iris claims that its four operations use 100% renewable energy, with the data centers generating power from a mix of wind, solar and hydroelectric sources. A disclaimer on its website notes that its three Canadian sites generate 98% of their power from renewables. The remainder of its energy use is offset by purchasing renewable energy certificates.

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