Applied Digital Breaks Ground on Delta Forge 1, a 430 MW AI Factory Campus in a Southern U.S. State
Rhea-AI Summary
Applied Digital (NASDAQ: APLD) broke ground on Delta Forge 1, an AI Factory campus in a southern U.S. market designed for an initial 430 MW of utility power enabling up to 300 MW of critical IT load and the ability to scale further in 2028 and beyond. The campus will initially comprise two 150-MW facilities on more than 500 acres and is expected to support over 200 full-time employees plus long-term contractors. Applied Digital plans to use its proprietary AI Factory blueprint refined at Polaris Forge, aims for repeatable hyperscale deployment, and is in discussions with a prospective investment-grade hyperscale customer. Initial operations are expected to commence in mid-2027.
Positive
- 430 MW initial utility power capacity
- Up to 300 MW critical IT load capability
- Campus spans >b>500 acres with two 150-MW facilities
- Expected >b>200 full-time jobs when operational
- Planned start of initial operations in mid-2027
- Repeatable AI Factory blueprint from Polaris Forge
Negative
- No confirmed hyperscale customer; only discussions reported
News Market Reaction
On the day this news was published, APLD declined 0.91%, reflecting a mild negative market reaction.
Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.
Key Figures
Market Reality Check
Peers on Argus
APLD fell 1.13% while peers were mixed: INGM, PONY, and GDS gained (up to 1.92%), VRRM declined 1.3%, and SAIC was flat. This points to a stock-specific move rather than a sector-wide trend.
Historical Context
| Date | Event | Sentiment | Move | Catalyst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 15 | Leadership change | Positive | -2.4% | Co-founder Jason Zhang elevated to President to support AI expansion. |
| Jan 07 | Earnings release | Positive | -2.3% | Q2 revenue growth, narrowed losses, major financings and lease commitments. |
| Dec 29 | Strategic transaction | Positive | +3.2% | Planned spin-out of cloud business via ChronoScale combination with EKSO. |
| Dec 18 | Conference call setup | Neutral | +8.6% | Scheduled Q2 2026 results call and provided access details and replay info. |
| Dec 18 | AI financing | Positive | +8.6% | Macquarie development facility with initial <b>$100M</b> draws for AI campuses. |
Recent materially positive operational and financing updates have produced mixed price reactions, with several notable divergences where strong growth news coincided with negative returns.
Over the last few months, APLD has focused on scaling its AI Factory platform and refining its capital structure. Key AI-related milestones included a Macquarie development loan facility and earlier financing to accelerate Polaris Forge campuses, alongside a proposed ChronoScale spin-out and strong fiscal Q2 revenue of $126.6M with significant cash raised. Governance and leadership were also in focus with Jason Zhang’s appointment as President. Today’s Delta Forge 1 groundbreaking extends this AI campus strategy into a new region, building on the North Dakota Polaris Forge blueprint.
Regulatory & Risk Context
APLD has an active S-3ASR shelf filed on 2025-09-26 and effective through 2028-09-26, with at least 2 takedowns via 424B3 in late 2025. This structure gives the company flexibility to issue securities as needed while expanding AI Factory campuses.
Market Pulse Summary
This announcement details the Delta Forge 1 AI Factory campus, designed for 430 MW of utility power and up to 300 MW of critical IT load across two 150‑MW facilities on more than 500 acres. It extends APLD’s AI Factory blueprint from Polaris Forge into a new southern U.S. market, with initial operations targeted for mid‑2027. Investors may watch for hyperscale lease commitments, construction milestones, financing actions under the existing shelf, and how this campus integrates with prior Macquarie-backed AI buildout plans.
Key Terms
hyperscale technical
colocation services technical
AI Factory technical
AI-generated analysis. Not financial advice.
Delta Forge 1 is designed to initially support 430 MW of total utility power across two buildings, with the ability to scale considerably over time through Applied Digital’s disciplined, repeatable approach to hyperscale infrastructure deployment
DALLAS, Jan. 22, 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, announced that it has broken ground on Delta Forge 1, an AI Factory campus located in a strategic southern U.S. market.
Delta Forge 1 is designed to support an initial 430 MW of total utility power, enabling up to 300 MW of critical IT load with the ability to scale considerably in 2028 and beyond, translating available power into live, high density AI capacity for hyperscale customers. Purpose-built from the ground up, the campus is engineered to support the power integration, advanced cooling and operational rigor required to run large-scale AI workloads reliably and efficiently.
The Delta Forge 1 campus will initially comprise two 150-MW facilities spanning more than 500 acres. Once fully operational, the campus is expected to support more than 200 full-time employees, in addition to long-term contractors, creating durable economic opportunity and long-term investment in the region.
"Delta Forge 1 represents the next stage of Applied Digital’s growth, as we continue to deliver AI infrastructure through disciplined execution,” said Wes Cummins, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Applied Digital. “AI Factories succeed or fail based on how effectively power, cooling and operations are integrated. We believe this campus will be built to scale alongside hyperscale demand while delivering operational certainty for customers and lasting value for the communities where we operate.”
As demand for artificial intelligence accelerates, the limiting factor is now the ability to convert power into operational AI capacity – on schedule and at scale. We believe Applied Digital is addressing this challenge by building AI factories designed for repeatable execution across a growing portfolio of campuses, ensuring consistency as scale increases.
Applied Digital is advancing Delta Forge 1 in discussions with another prospective investment-grade hyperscale customer, reflecting strong demand for purpose-built AI infrastructure capable of supporting high-density workloads at scale.
We expect Delta Forge 1 to leverage Applied Digital’s proprietary AI Factory blueprint, refined through the company’s Polaris Forge campuses in North Dakota and designed to be replicated across markets with consistency and precision. We believe this repeatable platform approach enables Applied Digital to deliver multiple hyperscale-ready campuses without sacrificing performance, reliability, or responsible development.
Initial operations at Delta Forge 1 are expected to commence in mid-2027.
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 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, including without limitation, the datacenter leases with CoreWeave and at our Polaris Forge 2 campus, and with future tenants at Delta Forge; 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 Current Report on Form 8-K 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
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