Applied Digital Reaches Significant Milestone, Surpassing 1 GW of Contracted Capacity with U.S. Based High Investment-Grade Hyperscaler Lease at Fourth Campus, Polaris Forge 3
Rhea-AI Summary
Applied Digital (NASDAQ: APLD) signed a new 15-year take-or-pay lease with a U.S. based high investment-grade hyperscaler for its fourth AI Factory campus, Polaris Forge 3.
The 300 MW critical IT load agreement is valued at approximately $7.5 billion in base-term contracted revenue and up to $18.2 billion with renewals. This brings total contracted lease revenue across four AI Factory campuses to $31 billion, or $73 billion if all renewal options are exercised, and total contracted capacity to 1,200 MW of critical IT load supported by about 1,670 MW of utility power. Approximately 65% of contracted revenue is backed by U.S. based investment-grade hyperscalers. Initial operations at Polaris Forge 3 are anticipated in August 2027.
AI-generated analysis. Not financial advice.
Positive
- New 15-year take-or-pay lease worth about $7.5 billion base term
- Total potential lease value up to $18.2 billion with renewal options
- Total contracted lease revenue reaches $31 billion, or $73 billion with renewals
- Contracted critical IT load rises to 1,200 MW across four AI Factory campuses
- About 65% of contracted revenue backed by U.S. based investment-grade hyperscalers
- Polaris Forge 3 designed for 300 MW IT load and ~430 MW utility power
Negative
- None.
News Market Reaction – APLD
On the day this news was published, APLD gained 21.51%, reflecting a significant positive market reaction. Argus tracked a peak move of +27.1% during that session. Our momentum scanner triggered 124 alerts that day, indicating very high trading interest and price volatility. This price movement added approximately $2.46B to the company's valuation, bringing the market cap to $13.88B at that time.
Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.
Key Figures
Market Reality Check
Peers on Argus
APLD was up 3.63% while key peers like SAIC (-0.02%), INGM (-0.78%), PONY (-1.71%), and GDS (-1.70%) were flat-to-down, indicating stock-specific strength rather than a sector-wide move.
Historical Context
| Date | Event | Sentiment | Move | Catalyst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 05 | Business separation | Positive | +11.9% | Completed spin-out of ChronoScale, retaining about 97% ownership stake. |
| May 04 | Debt financing | Positive | +6.2% | Closed $300 million senior secured bridge facility for Polaris Forge 1 build. |
| Apr 23 | Major AI lease | Positive | +12.1% | 15-year, 300 MW lease at Delta Forge 1 worth about $7.5 billion. |
| Apr 08 | Earnings release | Negative | -8.0% | Q3 2026 showed strong revenue but a $100.9 million net loss. |
| Mar 19 | Conference call notice | Neutral | -2.9% | Scheduled Q3 2026 conference call and webcast details. |
APLD has seen strong positive reactions to major AI campus leases and financing, while earnings and routine events have drawn weaker or negative responses.
Over the past few months, APLD has executed several major milestones. In April 2026, it signed a 15-year, $7.5 billion lease at Delta Forge 1, lifting contracted lease revenue to over $23 billion, which drew a 12.09% gain. A $300 million bridge facility on May 4, 2026 and the ChronoScale spin-out on May 5, 2026 also produced positive moves. By contrast, fiscal Q3 2026 results with a $100.9 million net loss saw the stock fall 7.99%. Today’s new long-term hyperscaler lease extends this build-out pattern.
Regulatory & Risk Context
APLD has an effective S-3ASR shelf filed on 2025-09-26, expiring on 2028-09-26. The filing has been used at least 2 times via prospectus supplements, giving the company flexibility to issue securities as needed. The shelf covers various securities and related agreements but no aggregate capacity is specified in the provided data.
Market Pulse Summary
The stock surged +21.5% in the session following this news. A strong positive reaction aligns with APLD’s history of sharp gains on major AI infrastructure wins, such as prior leases that added over $23 billion in contracted revenue. Investors have often rewarded long-duration, hyperscaler-backed agreements. However, high short interest around 30.75% of float can amplify both upside and downside, and the presence of an effective shelf registration could enable future capital raises impacting sentiment.
Key Terms
take-or-pay financial
hyperscaler technical
high-performance compute (HPC) technical
liquid-cooling technical
AI-generated analysis. Not financial advice.
New 15-Year Take-or-Pay Lease Brings Total Contracted Baseline Revenue to
DALLAS, May 20, 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 long-term lease agreement with the same U.S. based high investment-grade hyperscaler that previously signed at Delta Forge 1. The agreement is for the Company’s fourth AI Factory campus, Polaris Forge 3, located in a northern state and designed to deliver 300 MW of critical IT load, supported by approximately 430 MW of grid-connected utility power.
Key Transaction Highlights:
- 15-year take-or-pay leases with the same U.S. based high investment-grade hyperscaler previously signed at Delta Forge 1, valued at approximately
$7.5 billion in base-term contracted revenue,$18.2 billion if all options are exercised. - 300 MW of critical IT load, purpose-built for large-scale AI training and inference workloads.
- Brings Applied Digital’s total contracted lease revenue to
$31 billion across four AI Factory campuses,$73 billion if all renewal options at each campus are exercised in accordance with their terms. - Approximately
65% of contracted revenue backed by U.S. based investment-grade hyperscalers. - Total contracted capacity across four AI Factory campuses now reaches 1,200 MW of critical IT load (net) and approximately 1,670 MW of utility power (gross).
The leases represent approximately
With these agreements, we believe Applied Digital further solidifies its position as the partner of choice for the world’s most demanding hyperscalers. Polaris Forge 3 represents the Company’s second long-term lease with this U.S. based high investment-grade hyperscaler, further expanding the strategic relationship established at Delta Forge 1 in April 2026.
“Polaris Forge 3 is a direct extension of what we’ve proven works: a disciplined, repeatable AI Factory model that delivers large-scale capacity to the world’s most demanding compute customers,” said Wes Cummins, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Applied Digital. “This second 300 MW lease with the same U.S. based high investment-grade hyperscaler we partnered with at Delta Forge 1 reflects the confidence we’ve built through disciplined execution and our ability to consistently advance large-scale AI infrastructure projects. We’ve earned a seat at the table with blue-chip customers, and we intend to keep that position through flawless execution and long-term operational reliability.”
“Momentum continues to build for our Company,” Cummins continued, “While executing leases representing 1.2 GW in the past eleven months has been a monumental achievement, we are actively marketing more than 1.7 GW of grid-connected utility power across sites recently added to our portfolio, as well as existing sites.”
Polaris Forge 3 spans more than 600 acres and is engineered from the ground up for high-density AI workloads. The campus integrates Applied Digital's proprietary waterless cooling technology, high-density power delivery, and advanced liquid-cooling architecture, all purpose-built to support the compute densities demanded by next-generation AI infrastructure.
Built on Applied Digital's proven AI Factory model (the same framework powering Polaris Forge 1, Polaris Forge 2, and Delta Forge 1), Polaris Forge 3 extends the Company’s repeatable campus strategy into another large-scale AI deployment. Initial operations at Polaris Forge 3 are anticipated to commence in August 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,” “proven,” “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: whether or not our customers exercise the renewal options under their leases with us (if not, we will not recognize further revenue from such customer under its respective lease); 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; 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