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Iris Energy has appointed John Gross as Chief Innovation Officer to lead the development of its data center infrastructure focused on AI applications. This strategic shift aims to transition from Bitcoin mining to high-performance computing.

The company plans to operate 140,000 GPUs by the end of 2026 under a $9.7 billion cloud contract with Microsoft. The appointment comes amid challenges from disappointing Q2 results, with revenue of $184.7 million below expectations. Nevertheless, Iris Energy secured $3.6 billion in funding for hardware expansion and will be added to the MSCI USA Index on February 27, enhancing market visibility.