Applied Digital Announces New U.S. Based High Investment-Grade Hyperscaler Tenant at Delta Forge 1, a 430 MW AI Factory Campus

Rhea-AI Summary

Applied Digital (NASDAQ: APLD) signed a 15-year lease with a U.S. investment-grade hyperscaler at its Delta Forge 1 AI Factory campus, covering 300 MW of critical IT load and ~$7.5 billion in total contracted value. The agreement raises total contracted lease revenue to over $23 billion and brings more than 50% of contracted revenue backed by investment-grade customers. Delta Forge 1 spans 500+ acres; initial operations are anticipated to begin in mid-2027. Applied Digital also expects up to $300M bridge and $300M revolving credit facilities to fund development.

Positive

• $7.5B total contracted value for the new 15-year lease
• 300 MW of critical IT load added at Delta Forge 1
• Total contracted lease revenue now over $23B
• More than 50% of contracted revenue backed by investment-grade customers
• 15-year lease term increases long-term revenue visibility

Negative

• Initial operations anticipated mid-2027, creating execution/timing dependency
• Planned up to $300M senior secured bridge facility for development
• Planned up to $300M senior secured revolving credit facility

News Market Reaction – APLD

+12.09%

26 alerts

+12.09% Session close to close

+13.1% Peak in 25 hr 30 min

$10.97B Market Cap

0.8x Rel. Volume

In the Apr 23 session, APLD gained 12.09%, reflecting a significant positive market reaction. Argus tracked a peak move of +13.1% during that session. Our momentum scanner triggered 26 alerts that day, indicating elevated trading interest and price volatility.

Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.

Market Context

The stock surged +12.1% in the session following this news. A strong positive reaction aligns with A...

Analysis

The stock surged +12.1% in the session following this news. A strong positive reaction aligns with APLD’s pattern of sizable moves on AI infrastructure news, where past AI-tagged updates averaged 3.25% next-day moves. The multi‑billion‑dollar, 15‑year hyperscaler lease lifting total contracted revenue above $23 billion materially enhances revenue visibility. However, heavy use of debt and credit facilities and previously mixed reactions to capital-intensive expansion mean investors have often reassessed risk once initial enthusiasm faded.

Key Figures

New lease contracted value: $7.5 billion Total contracted revenue: Over $23 billion Lease term: 15 years +5 more

8 metrics

New lease contracted value $7.5 billion Total contracted value over estimated 15-year term with new hyperscaler

Total contracted revenue Over $23 billion Total contracted lease revenue across APLD portfolio after new agreement

Lease term 15 years Estimated term of new hyperscaler lease at Delta Forge 1

Critical IT load 300 MW IT load covered by new lease for AI and HPC workloads

Campus capacity 430 MW Designed AI Factory power capacity at Delta Forge 1 campus

Campus size 500+ acres Land area of Delta Forge 1 AI Factory campus

Bridge facility Up to $300 million Planned senior secured bridge facility for Polaris Forge 1 Building 3

Revolving credit facility Up to $300 million Planned senior secured revolver for platform development and working capital

Previous AI Reports

5 past events · Latest: Mar 04 (Positive)

Same Type Pattern 5 events

Date	Event	Sentiment	24h Move	Catalyst
Mar 04	AI power project	Positive	+9.6%	Babcock & Wilcox secured $2.4B project to power APLD AI Factory campuses.
Jan 22	AI campus groundbreak	Positive	-0.9%	APLD broke ground on 430 MW Delta Forge 1 AI Factory campus.
Dec 18	AI dev loan facility	Positive	+8.6%	Macquarie development loan with initial $100M draws for AI campuses.
Nov 12	AI equity financing	Positive	-7.6%	Macquarie preferred equity draw to fund Polaris Forge 1 and 2 build‑out.
Nov 04	AI power LNTP	Positive	+6.5%	Babcock & Wilcox LNTP for 1 GW natural gas power for APLD AI Factory.

24h Move is the share-price change in the day after each event; other market factors may also have contributed.

Pattern Detected

AI campus and power-infrastructure deals have produced mixed reactions: three AI-tagged announcements saw strong gains, while two drew negative next-day moves despite positive build-out themes.

Recent Company History

Over the last six months, APLD has repeatedly highlighted large-scale AI Factory expansion and associated power projects. Prior AI-tagged updates included Macquarie-backed financing, major preferred equity draws, and multi‑hundred‑MW build-outs, as well as Babcock & Wilcox power-generation contracts supporting APLD campuses. Market reactions have been uneven, with several strong positive moves but also notable selloffs on capital-intensive expansion news. Today’s long-term hyperscaler lease at Delta Forge 1 fits into this ongoing AI infrastructure scaling story anchored by large contracted counterparties.

Key Terms

hyperscaler, high-performance compute (HPC), senior secured bridge facility, revolving credit facility

4 terms

hyperscaler technical

"entered into a lease agreement with a new U.S. based high investment-grade hyperscaler"

A hyperscaler is a very large provider of cloud computing and data-center services that owns and operates vast amounts of servers, storage and network capacity to host other companies’ applications and data. Think of them as the electric utility for digital services: their scale cuts unit costs, enables rapid growth for customers, and creates high barriers to entry, so investors watch their market share, margins and capital spending closely.

high-performance compute (HPC) technical

"support the hyperscaler’s artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance compute (HPC) infrastructure"

High-performance computing (HPC) is the use of very powerful computers and specialized software to solve large, complex problems much faster than ordinary PCs, like using a construction crane instead of a hand cart to move heavy loads. Investors care because HPC enables faster product design, data analysis, and research across industries — driving competitive advantage, unlocking new revenue opportunities, and often requiring significant capital or recurring cloud spending that affects a company’s costs and growth prospects.

senior secured bridge facility financial

"expects to enter into an up to $300 million senior secured bridge facility to fund"

A senior secured bridge facility is a short-term loan that has first priority for repayment and is backed by the borrower’s assets as collateral. It acts like a temporary financial bridge that keeps a company running or completes a transaction until longer-term funding or a sale is arranged, and it matters to investors because it changes who gets paid first, affects short-term cash risk and interest costs, and can signal urgency about the company’s funding needs.

revolving credit facility financial

"and an up to $300 million senior secured revolving credit facility to fund"

A revolving credit facility is a type of loan that a business can borrow from whenever it needs money, up to a set limit. It’s like having a credit card for companies—allowing them to borrow, pay back, and borrow again as needed, providing flexibility for managing cash flow or funding short-term expenses.

AI-generated analysis. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.

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New 15-Year Lease Expands Total Contracted Revenue to Over $23 Billion

DALLAS, April 23, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Applied Digital (NASDAQ: APLD), a designer, builder, and operator of high-performance, sustainably engineered data centers and colocation services for artificial intelligence, cloud, networking, and blockchain workloads, today announced it has entered into a lease agreement with a new U.S. based high investment-grade hyperscaler at its 430 MW AI Factory campus, Delta Forge 1.

This lease represents approximately $7.5 billion in total contracted value over an estimated 15-year lease term and covers 300 megawatts (MW) of critical IT load, purpose-built to support the hyperscaler’s artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance compute (HPC) infrastructure.

With this agreement, the tenant becomes Applied Digital’s second U.S. based investment-grade hyperscaler across three AI Factory campuses. This addition expands total contracted lease revenue to over $23 billion and further diversifies the company’s customer base with a third hyperscale tenant. More than 50% of total contracted revenue is now backed by investment-grade customers.

"We remain focused on delivering operational AI capacity at scale,” said Wes Cummins, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Applied Digital. “With this agreement, we now have two U.S. based investment-grade hyperscalers across our portfolio, marking an important step in the continued diversification of our customer base and strengthening the overall quality and visibility of our contracted revenue. Our priority remains execution –– bringing capacity online on schedule and operating it with discipline over the long term.”

Delta Forge 1 is Applied Digital’s newest AI Factory campus, spanning more than 500 acres and designed from the ground up to support large-scale AI workloads. The campus integrates high-density power delivery, advanced cooling architecture, and disciplined operational design to enable consistent performance at scale.

Built on Applied Digital’s repeatable AI Factory model, Delta Forge 1 is engineered to support both training and inference workloads in high-density environments. Initial operations at Delta Forge 1 are anticipated to commence in mid-2027.​​

In other development-related activity, Applied Digital expects to enter into an up to $300 million senior secured bridge facility to fund continued development of the 150 MW Building 3 data center located on its Polaris Forge 1 campus, and an up to $300 million senior secured revolving credit facility to fund pre-lease and post-lease development activities across Applied Digital’s platform, as well as general working capital needs and transaction expenses. These credit facilities are expected to be on customary market terms for facilities of this type, to close promptly, and be provided by a syndicate of bank lenders.

About Applied Digital

Applied Digital (Nasdaq: APLD) named Best Data Center in the Americas 2025 by Datacloud — designs, builds, and operates high-performance, sustainably engineered data centers and colocation services for artificial intelligence, cloud, networking, and blockchain workloads. Headquartered in Dallas, TX, and founded in 2021, the company combines hyperscale expertise, proprietary waterless cooling, and rapid deployment capabilities to deliver secure, scalable compute at industry-leading speed and efficiency, while creating economic opportunities in underserved communities through its award-winning Polaris Forge AI Factory model.

Learn more at applieddigital.com or follow @APLDdigital on X and LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding, among other things, future operating and financial performance, product development, market position, business strategy and objectives, and future financing plans. These statements use words, and variations of words, such as “will,” “continue,” “build,” “future,” “increase,” “drive,” “believe,” “look,” “ahead,” “confident,” “deliver,” “outlook,” “expect,” “project” and “predict.” Other examples of forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, (i) statements that reflect perspectives and expectations regarding lease agreements and any current or prospective data center campus development; (ii) statements about the high-performance computing (HPC) industry; (iii) statements of company plans and objectives, including the company’s evolving business model, or estimates or predictions of actions by suppliers; (iv) statements of future economic performance; (v) statements of assumptions underlying other statements and statements about the company or its business; and (vi) the company’s plans to obtain future project financing. You are cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations of future events and thus are inherently subject to uncertainty. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or known or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results could vary materially from the company’s expectations and projections. These risks, uncertainties, and other factors include, among others: our ability to complete construction of our data center campuses as planned; the lead time of customer acquisition and leasing decisions and related internal approval processes; changes to artificial intelligence and HPC infrastructure needs and their impact on future plans; costs related to the HPC operations and strategy; our ability to timely deliver any services required in connection with completion of installation under lease agreements; our ability to raise additional capital to fund the ongoing datacenter construction and operations; our ability to obtain financing of datacenter leases and more broadly for our development and general corporate activities, including our ability to close the two anticipated $300 million senior secured credit facilities, on acceptable financing terms, or at all; our dependence on principal customers, including our ability to execute and perform our obligations under our leases with key customers; our ability to timely and successfully build new hosting facilities with the appropriate contractual margins and efficiencies; power or other supply disruptions and equipment failures; the inability to comply with regulations, developments and changes in regulations; cash flow and access to capital; availability of financing to continue to grow our business; decline in demand for our products and services; maintenance of third party relationships; and conditions in the debt and equity capital markets. A further list and description of these risks, uncertainties, and other factors can be found in the company’s most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, including in the sections captioned “Forward-Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors,” and in the company’s subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Copies of these filings are available online at www.sec.gov, on the company’s website (www.applieddigital.com) under “Investors,” or on request from the company. Information in this press release is as of the dates and time periods indicated herein, and the company does not undertake to update any of the information contained in these materials, except as required by law.

Media Contact
JSA (Jaymie Scotto & Associates)
(856) 264-7827
jsa_applied@jsa.net

Investor Relations Contacts
Matt Glover or Ralf Esper
Gateway Group, Inc.
(949) 574-3860
APLD@gateway-grp.com

FAQ

What are the financial terms of Applied Digital's new APLD lease announced April 23, 2026?

The lease represents approximately $7.5 billion in total contracted value over an estimated 15-year term. According to the company, it covers 300 MW of critical IT load at Delta Forge 1 to support AI and HPC infrastructure.

How does the Delta Forge 1 lease affect Applied Digital's total contracted revenue (APLD)?

The agreement expands total contracted lease revenue to over $23 billion. According to the company, the new lease increases diversification with a third hyperscale tenant and raises investment-grade backing above 50%.

When will Delta Forge 1 operations start and what capacity does it support for APLD?

Initial operations are anticipated to commence in mid-2027. According to the company, Delta Forge 1 spans more than 500 acres and is engineered to support high-density AI training and inference workloads.

What financing did Applied Digital (APLD) announce to fund development after the lease?

Applied Digital expects to enter an up to $300M senior secured bridge facility and an up to $300M revolving credit facility. According to the company, both facilities are intended for development and working capital.

How much critical IT load did the new hyperscaler lease add to Applied Digital's portfolio (APLD)?

The new lease covers 300 MW of critical IT load at Delta Forge 1. According to the company, this capacity is purpose-built for hyperscale AI and high-performance compute infrastructure.