Microsoft spent about $5 billion less on capital expenditures in the September 2026 quarter than it had projected after planned third-party data-center capacity was not ready on schedule, The Information reported on November 4. The outlet identified delays at IREN’s Childress, Texas, site as one contributor, but did not quantify IREN’s share of the gap (The Information).
When data-center capacity arrives late, planned spending can shift out of the quarter.
What was reported about IREN’s Childress site
Investing.com, in a report carried by Yahoo Finance, said cabling problems disrupted construction timelines at IREN’s Texas campus. The report also cited an April generator fire and hardware-delivery delays disclosed in August. It said Microsoft and IREN officials negotiated a revised schedule that could push completion back several weeks or months (Investing.com via Yahoo Finance).
Business Insider reported that Aterio’s October 21 satellite assessment found Horizon 4 without backup generators and cooling equipment and at risk of missing its year-end delivery target (Business Insider).
The quarterly gap and annual forecast were different measures
The roughly $5 billion quarterly gap compares Microsoft’s capital expenditures for the September quarter with its earlier projection. Business Insider separately reported that Microsoft lowered its annual capital-expenditure forecast by $5 billion. The figures refer to different periods and measures.
The reported Microsoft–IREN agreement
The Information described a planned $9.7 billion, five-year agreement for Microsoft to rent servers equipped with Nvidia GPUs at an IREN data center in Texas. IREN said deployment would proceed gradually during 2026. Business Insider reported that Microsoft accepted the first building, Horizon 1, in August after equipment shortages delayed it.
A Microsoft spokesperson described the company’s infrastructure approach as combining its own data centers, leased facilities and partnerships with third-party providers, according to The Information.
