Applied Digital Completes Development Loan Facility with Macquarie Group to Support New AI Factory Campuses
Rhea-AI Summary
Applied Digital (Nasdaq: APLD) entered a development loan facility with Macquarie on December 18, 2025 to fund pre-lease development costs for new AI-optimized data center campuses.
The facility provides early-stage capital for sourcing, planning, development and construction, with an initial $100 million in draws intended to support development activities tied to advanced-stage negotiations with an investment-grade hyperscaler. The financing is intended to align capital deployment with customer demand and accelerate site development.
Positive
- Initial $100 million in draws available for pre-lease development
- Facility funds sourcing, planning, development and construction costs
- Capital aligned to customer demand to accelerate site advancement
Negative
- None.
Key Figures
Market Reality Check
Peers on Argus 1 Up
APLD fell 9.24% while key peers like SAIC (+2.6%) and VRRM (+1.24%) were positive, pointing to a stock-specific reaction. Momentum scanner only flagged PONY moving up.
Historical Context
| Date | Event | Sentiment | Move | Catalyst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 02 | Strategic investment | Positive | -0.6% | Led <b>$25M</b> Corintis round to advance liquid-cooling for AI data centers. |
| Nov 24 | Capacity milestone | Positive | +12.8% | Completed Phase II, fully energizing <b>100 MW</b> at Polaris Forge 1. |
| Nov 13 | Debt financing | Positive | -12.7% | Priced <b>$2.35B</b> senior secured notes to fund Ellendale buildout, repay debt. |
| Nov 12 | AI buildout funding | Positive | -7.6% | Announced additional <b>$787.5M</b> Macquarie draw plus <b>$65M</b> revolver for AI factories. |
| Nov 10 | Proposed notes offering | Positive | +1.5% | Proposed private offering of <b>$2.35B</b> senior secured notes for new data centers. |
APLD often shows mixed price reactions to generally positive buildout and financing news, with more divergences than alignments.
Over the last few months, APLD has repeatedly announced large-scale AI infrastructure and financing steps, including $2.35 billion in senior secured notes and a $787.5 million preferred equity draw tied to Polaris Forge campuses. Operational milestones such as fully energizing 100 MW at Polaris Forge 1 and strategic investments like the $25 million Corintis round support its AI-optimized data center strategy. Price reactions have been inconsistent, with both sharp gains and declines following positive news.
Regulatory & Risk Context
APLD has an effective S-3ASR shelf filed on 2025-09-26, already used in 2 prospectus supplements. The filing lists aggregate offering-related expenses of $131,117.77, and the active shelf provides flexibility for future registered transactions alongside ongoing AI infrastructure expansion.
Market Pulse Summary
This announcement adds a dedicated Macquarie-backed development facility to APLD’s AI infrastructure toolkit, with an initial $100 million earmarked for new hyperscaler campuses. It complements recent senior notes, preferred equity, and revolver financings tied to Polaris Forge projects. Investors may watch how quickly pre-lease capital converts into long-term contracted revenue, how terms compare with existing facilities, and how this structure affects APLD’s flexibility as it scales AI-optimized data center capacity.
AI-generated analysis. Not financial advice.
DALLAS, Dec. 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Applied Digital Corporation (Nasdaq: APLD) (the “Company,” or “Applied Digital”), a builder and operator of next-generation digital infrastructure designed for high-performance computing (“HPC”) and artificial intelligence (“AI”) workloads, today announced it has entered into a loan facility with Macquarie Group’s Commodities and Global Market’s business (“Macquarie”) to fund the pre-lease development costs for new data center projects.
The facility was entered into on December 18, 2025, by APLD DevCo LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Applied Digital, and Macquarie and provides pre-lease development capital to support the early-stage sourcing, planning, development, and construction of new data center campuses and other potential projects. Applied Digital is currently in advanced-stage negotiations with another investment-grade hyperscaler for multiple campuses and the initial
The loan facility is designed to support Applied Digital’s disciplined site-development strategy during the pre-lease phase, intended to enable the Company to advance projects efficiently while aligning capital deployment with customer demand.
“This development facility strengthens our ability to move quickly on high-quality sites while maintaining capital flexibility,” said Wes Cummins, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Applied Digital. “As demand for AI-optimized data center infrastructure continues to accelerate, this financing is intended to support our strategy of developing purpose-built campuses for hyperscale customers.”
Applied Digital continues to advance multiple large-scale data center opportunities as part of its broader AI infrastructure platform, aligned with growing hyperscale demand.
In connection with the loan facility, Northland Securities, Inc. (d/b/a Northland Capital Markets) acted as sole placement agent. Lowenstein Sandler LLP acted as counsel to the Company and Latham & Watkins LLP acted as counsel to the lender.
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,” “demonstrates,” “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 HPC industry, (iii) statements of Company plans and objectives, including our 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 centers as planned; the lead time of customer acquisition and leasing decisions and related internal approval processes; changes to AI 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 the lease agreements; our ability to raise additional capital to fund the ongoing and future data center construction and operations; our ability to obtain financing of data center 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 future tenants; 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 Report 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 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 is the size and purpose of Applied Digital's loan facility with Macquarie (APLD)?
When was the Macquarie development loan facility entered into for APLD?
How will the Macquarie facility affect Applied Digital's AI campus development timeline (APLD)?
Is Applied Digital working with hyperscalers for the campuses funded by the Macquarie facility (APLD)?
Who acted as placement agent and counsel for the APLD loan facility transaction?
