US tech giant Microsoft continued its quest to secure more compute capacity for AI services by striking a $9.7 billion deal with Australia-based data centre company IREN.

Under the agreement, IREN will provide Microsoft with access to Nvidia’s GB300 GPUs over a five-year term. The deal includes a 20 per cent pre-payment by Microsoft.

The GPUs will be installed in phases throughout 2026 at IREN’s 750MW Childress, Texas campus in conjunction with the delivery of new liquid-cooled data centres, which will collectively support 200MW of critical IT load.

Separately, IREN has entered into an agreement with Dell Technologies to purchase the GPUs and additional equipment for $5.8 billion.

Its deal provides Microsoft with additional compute capacity for AI without needing to build new data centres or source additional power. It also gives the tech giant access to Nvidia’s advanced chips without purchasing them itself.

Last month, UK-based AI start-up Nscale expanded a deal with Microsoft to supply the technology giant with 200,000 Nvidia GPUs to scale up infrastructure across Europe and the US.