Crypto miner turned AI infrastructure firm IREN (NASDAQ: IREN) is ramping up its ambitions in artificial intelligence.
On March 5, IREN announced the expansion of its equity fundraising capacity while purchasing a new fleet of Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) GPUs.
However, the strategy is already drawing scrutiny from one of Wall Street's most well-known skeptics.
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IREN ramps up AI expansion with massive GPU order
As part of its aggressive expansion strategy, IREN announced on March 4 that it had agreed to purchase more than 50,000 Nvidia B300 GPUs.
The new order will increase the company's AI computing capacity by roughly 50%, bringing its total fleet to around 150,000 GPUs by the end of 2026.
Graphics processing units, or GPUs, are specialized chips designed to perform large volumes of parallel computations, making them essential for training and running modern artificial intelligence models.
The company said the newly acquired chips will support its broader push into AI cloud infrastructure and help service large-scale enterprise contracts.
To support the expansion, IREN plans to build additional data center capacity, including a new 1.6 gigawatt site in Oklahoma as part of its growing infrastructure footprint.
The company has already raised around $1 billion through earlier share sales and now plans to rely on the expanded $6 billion equity program to finance GPU purchases and data center development.
The move comes as IREN pursues a reported $9.7 billion contract with Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and aims to scale its AI computing fleet significantly over the next two years.
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Chanos questions transparency around expansion plans
Despite the ambitious growth plans, the funding strategy has sparked concern among some investors.
Jim Chanos, known for short-selling high-profile companies, publicly questioned the company's silence regarding a previously discussed $500 million revenue guidance update.
According to Chanos, the aggressive capital deployment and large-scale fundraising plans appear disconnected from the company's near-term financial outlook.
He suggested that investors should pay attention to the lack of updated revenue guidance as the company continues raising capital to fund its expansion.
"Since the Microsoft deal was announced $IREN FY 2027(6/27) Adjusted EPS estimates dropped 90%, while FY 2028 estimates dropped 60%. These "deals" are uneconomic,"Chanos r esponded to a comment on X.
Another concern stems from the structure of the equity authorization itself. Because the ATM program allows IREN to issue shares without additional shareholder approval, it could dilute existing investors as more stock enters the market.
Investor concerns appear to be reflected in the company's recent stock performance.
At press time on March 5, IREN shares fell 6.78% to trade at $40.87 following the announcement of the GPU purchase and expanded fundraising plans.
The stock's year-to-date returns dropped by 6.36% while in the past year, the stock was up 396.10%.
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This story was originally published by TheStreet on Mar 5, 2026, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
