IREN Limited (NASDAQ:IREN) shares surged 7% after its 2GW Sweetwater Hub in Texas received conditional inclusion as Base Load in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) Batch Zero process, an early review step for facilities expected to draw very large amounts of electricity. The company stated that grid interconnection is emerging as the scarcest input in the AI compute buildout. In sympathy with the AI data center trade, Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) shares also climbed 6%. IREN CEO Daniel Roberts noted that new grid capacity is “the scarcest input in this entire industry,” with active pricing discussions running near $25 million per MW.