NVIDIA will invest up to $2.1bn in IREN as part of a deal that pairs the chipmaker’s reference architecture with the data-centre operator’s 5-gigawatt infrastructure pipeline. The two companies announced the partnership on Thursday.

The structure is unusual. Rather than a straight equity round, IREN has issued Nvidia a five-year warrant for up to 30 million shares at an exercise price of $70. The stock closed regular trading at $56.85, then rose roughly 9% in extended trading after the announcement.

If Nvidia exercises in full, it would put the ticket size at $2.1bn at the strike, with cash outflow timed at the chipmaker’s discretion rather than the deal-close date.

Operationally, the Sweetwater campus in Texas, currently sized at 2GW of planned capacity, comes first.…