Applied Digital Signs Major Lease with Cloud Titan
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: May 21 2026
0mins
Source: Fool
- Major Lease Agreement: Applied Digital has signed a 15-year lease valued at approximately $7.5 billion with an undisclosed cloud titan for 300 megawatts of IT load, specifically designed for AI model training and inference workloads, further solidifying its position in the data center market.
- New Data Center Launch: The lease covers Applied Digital's fourth site, Polaris Forge 3, which spans over 600 acres and is expected to commence operations in August 2027, utilizing the company's proprietary waterless cooling technology to enhance energy efficiency and computing capacity.
- Expansive Market Opportunity: With hyperscalers planning to spend $725 billion in capital expenditures in 2026 alone, Applied Digital faces a massive market opportunity, having achieved a total contracted lease revenue of $31 billion, which could rise to $73 billion if customers choose to renew.
- Significant Expansion Potential: Over the past eleven months, Applied Digital has executed leases representing 1.2 gigawatts, while actively marketing more than 1.7 gigawatts of grid-connected utility power, demonstrating its strong expansion potential in the rapidly growing cloud computing market.
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Analyst Views on APLD
Wall Street analysts forecast APLD stock price to rise
10 Analyst Rating
10 Buy
0 Hold
0 Sell
Strong Buy
Current: 49.650
Low
36.00
Averages
52.22
High
99.00
Current: 49.650
Low
36.00
Averages
52.22
High
99.00
About APLD
Applied Digital Corporation is a designer, builder, and operator of sustainably engineered data centers and colocation services for artificial intelligence, cloud, networking, and blockchain workloads. The Company’s segments include data center hosting (Data Center Hosting Business) and high-performance compute hosting (HPC Hosting Business). The Data Center Hosting Business operates data centers to provide energized space to crypto mining customers. Customer-owned hardware is installed in its facilities, and the Company provides operational and maintenance services for a fixed fee. Its facilities include a 106 megawatt (MW) facility in Jamestown and a 180 MW facility in Ellendale, North Dakota. The HPC Hosting Business designs, builds, and operates data centers which are designed to support high-compute applications using advanced technologies and infrastructures to provide services to customers. Its HPC data center is located at its Polaris Forge 1 campus with 100 MW capacity.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
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- Expanding Client Base: Applied Digital has a 400 MW lease agreement with CoreWeave, and as CoreWeave secures contracts with major clients like OpenAI, Applied Digital is likely to gain more data center construction business, further increasing its market share.
- Optimistic Growth Outlook: Applied Digital's stock has surged 436% over the past year, and despite a high price-to-sales ratio of 27, its long-term lease revenue pipeline and data center expansion potential suggest strong future growth, with all analysts covering the stock rating it a buy.
See More
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- Long-Term Lease Contracts: The company has secured a 15-year lease agreement with CoreWeave, expected to generate $11 billion in lease revenue for Applied Digital, which not only strengthens its cash flow but also highlights its critical position in the AI infrastructure market.
- Data Center Expansion Plans: Applied Digital is currently building 1 GW of data center capacity, with 90% of this capacity locked in through long-term leases, and it aims to expand its active data center capacity to 3.5 GW to meet the growing market demand.
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See More
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- Fuel Cell Technology Recognition: Bloom Energy's stock rose after Nebius Group selected its fuel cell technology for U.S. data center expansion, with potential revenue of up to $2.6 billion over a decade, indicating the growing importance of alternative power systems in AI facilities.
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