Australia-headquartered Iris Energy has bought another 1.3 EH/s of Bitmain’s Antminer T21 model aiming to increase its proprietary mining capacity to 8.3 EH/s.
The bitcoin mining company said the preorder has a similar term to the previous purchase of 1.4 EH/s in October, wherein 20% of the $18.6 million contract is financed by the manufacturer and won’t be due until a year after shipment.
The two orders are both scheduled to arrive in Q1 2024, which will help Iris Energy improve its fleet efficiency from 29.5 J/TH to 25.8 J/TH.
With the two purchases, Iris Energy said it is on track to fill the power capacities it is expanding in Texas. According to its latest investor presentation deck, it needs to purchase another 1.7 EH/s to reach the planned 10 EH/s goal by the first half of 2024.
Iris Energy also joins the league of publicly traded mining companies in buying the latest generation of bitcoin miners, preparing for the upcoming bitcoin halving.
Bitfarms announced on Monday that it has signed a purchase agreement for 6.8 EH/s in Bitmain’s T21 model. The news was well received in the market, resulting in a skyrocketing trading volume of Bitfarms’ stocks over the past three days.
Iris Energy’s stock price jumps 10% in the pre-market trading hours.