Bitcoin Miner IREN Secures $3.4 Billion Nvidia AI Deal, With $2.1 Billion Share Option
Nvidia gains rights to invest up to $2.1 billion in IREN as companies race to lock down massive AI compute capacity.
ComputerWorld AI·
Venture funding of AI companies in 2026 will easily smash funding records set in 2025, with some heavy deals already consummated in the first quarter, according to market researchers. Data from Crunchbase shows that $300 billion poured into 6,000 startups worldwide during the first quarter of 2026. That’s a quarterly record for venture funding in AI companies, a Crunchbase news report said. A study from S&P Global measured generative AI funding reaching over $140 billion in the first quarter of 2026, outpacing all of 2025, according to a story published on the company’s website. Amid economic concerns, inflation, and the war in Iran, there were fewer deals overall, but the funding rounds were large in scope compared to any made in 2025. X.AI, for example, kicked off 2026 with a series-E round of $20 billion. OpenAI received $122 billion in a massive funding round in March, with a valuation of $852 billion. Anthropic received $30 billion in one round of funding that valued the company a
Read full articleNvidia gains rights to invest up to $2.1 billion in IREN as companies race to lock down massive AI compute capacity.
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