IREN Surges After Sweetwater Hub Clears ERCOT Hurdle, Applied Digital Rises in Sympathy
IREN surged nearly 7% after its Texas-based 2 GW Sweetwater data center hub was conditionally included in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) Batch Zero process. This milestone is a critical early step for large power users seeking grid access, particularly important as AI infrastructure demand grows and grid capacity becomes increasingly scarce. Applied Digital also rose by about 6%, likely due to its association with the broader data center sector. CEO Daniel Roberts emphasized that new grid capacity is now the scarcest input in the industry, with active pricing discussions reaching up to $25 million per MW of IT load. While the Global X Data Center & Digital Infrastructure ETF (DTCR) rose slightly and SPY declined modestly, IREN's gains appear company-specific rather than sector-wide. The conditional ERCOT status for Sweetwater advances its development timeline but remains subject to further approvals. The project is part of a larger global portfolio exceeding 5 GW from IREN.
Tickers: $APLD $IREN $NVDA $SPY
Topics: AI compute buildout data centers electricity infrastructure stock price movement