Applied Digital locks $7.5 billion AI data center lease with unnamed US hyperscaler

Applied Digital signs $7.5 billion AI data center lease with US hyperscaler

April 23 (Reuters) - Applied Digital (APLD.O), opens new tab has signed a long-term lease worth $7.5 billion with an unnamed U.S.-based hyperscaler at its new Delta Forge 1 site, it said on Thursday, strengthening its position as a data center provider for artificial intelligence workloads. Shares of the company jumped more than 12% in early trading following the announcement. The 15-year lease covers 300 megawatts of computing capacity at the 430‑megawatt Delta Forge 1 site in southern U.S., the company said. The deal makes ⁠the customer Applied Digital's second U.S.-based investment‑grade hyperscale tenant across its data center sites and lifts total contracted lease revenue to more than $23 billion. The agreement comes as demand for data centers continues to climb, with major technology companies including Amazon, Alphabet's Google, Meta, Microsoft and Oracle -- collectively called hyperscalers -- investing billions of dollars to secure facilities with enough computing power and cooling to support AI systems. More than half of Applied Digital's contracted revenue is now ⁠backed by investment-grade customers, the company said. Applied Digital builds and operates large data centers designed to support AI, cloud computing and other data‑intensive workloads, placing it among companies benefiting from the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure. Separately, Applied Digital said it ⁠expects to secure up to $600 million in financing, including a $300 million senior secured bridge facility for development at its Polaris Forge 1 campus and an up to $300 ⁠million revolving credit facility to fund broader development and working capital needs. Delta Forge 1 is the company's newest campus, spanning more than 500 acres ⁠and built to handle large‑scale AI operations. The site is designed with high‑capacity power and cooling systems, and initial operations are expected to begin in mid‑2027. Reporting by Kritika Lamba in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Applied Digital signs $7.5 billion AI data centre lease with US hyperscaler

Applied Digital secured a long-term lease worth $7.5 billion has been signed with an unnamed US hyperscaler. This agreement covers three hundred megawatts of computing capacity at the Delta Forge one site. The company also expects to secure up to six hundred million dollars in financing. Applied Digital has signed a long-term lease worth $7.5 billion with an unnamed US-based hyperscaler at its new Delta Forge 1 site, it said on Thursday, strengthening its position as a data center provider for artificial intelligence workloads. Shares of the company rose more than 9% in premarket trading following the ⁠announcement. The ⁠15-year lease covers 300 megawatts of computing capacity at the 430-megawatt Delta Forge 1 site in southern US, the company said. The deal makes the customer Applied Digital's second US-based investment-grade hyperscale tenant across its data center sites and lifts total contracted lease revenue to more than $23 billion. The agreement comes as demand for ⁠data centers continues to climb, with major technology companies including Amazon, Alphabet's Google, Meta, Microsoft and Oracle - collectively called hyperscalers - investing billions ⁠of dollars to secure facilities with enough computing power and cooling to support AI systems. More than half of Applied Digital's contracted revenue is now backed by investment-grade customers, the company said. Applied Digital builds and operates large data centers designed to support AI, cloud computing and other data-intensive workloads, placing it among companies benefiting from the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure. Separately, Applied Digital said it expects to secure up to $600 million in financing, including a $300 million senior secured bridge facility ⁠for development at its Polaris Forge 1 campus and an up to $300 million revolving credit facility to fund broader development and working capital needs. Delta Forge 1 is the company's newest campus, spanning more than 500 acres and built to handle large-scale AI operations. The site is designed with high-capacity power and cooling systems, and initial operations are expected to begin in mid-2027.

Applied Digital Stock Surges On $7.5B Hyperscaler Lease Deal - Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD)

* Applied Digital stock is among today's top performers. Why are APLD shares rallying? Signs Major Hyperscaler Lease Deal The lease at its 430 MW Delta Forge 1 AI Factory campus is valued at around $7.5 billion over 15 years. The company expects it to enhance the revenue stream and diversify its customer base. The lease covers 300 megawatts of critical IT load, aimed at supporting artificial intelligence and high-performance computing infrastructure. With this agreement, the tenant becomes the company's second U.S. investment-grade hyperscaler across its AI Factory portfolio, spanning three campuses. The addition brings Applied Digital's total contracted lease revenue to over $23 billion and further diversifies its customer base with a third hyperscale tenant. Over half of the company's contracted revenue is now backed by investment-grade customers. "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," said Wes Cummins, chairman and CEO of Applied Digital. Delta Forge 1 Delta Forge 1, Applied Digital's newest AI Factory campus, spans over 500 acres and is designed to support large-scale AI workloads. It features high-density power systems, advanced cooling and efficient operational design to deliver consistent, scalable performance. Built on the repeatable AI Factory model, the site is engineered for both AI training and inference in high-density environments. The company projects the operations to begin in mid-2027. Separately, Applied Digital plans to secure up to $300 million in a senior secured bridge facility to fund development of the 150 MW Building 3 data center at its Polaris Forge 1 campus. The company is also arranging an additional up to $300 million revolving credit facility to support broader platform development. APLD Earnings Preview and Analyst Price Targets Applied Digital is slated to provide its next financial update on July 29 (estimated). EPS Estimate: Loss of 16 cents (Down from Loss of 3 cents year-over-year) Revenue Estimate: $95.48 million (Up from $38.01 million YoY) Analyst Consensus & Recent Actions: The stock carries a Buy Rating with a consensus price target of $30.47. Recent analyst moves include: Citizens: Market Outperform (Maintains target to $40 on April 9) B. Riley Securities: Buy (Raises target to $53 on Jan. 9) Roth Capital: Buy (Raises target to $58 on Jan. 8) APLD Stock Price Activity: Applied Digital shares were up 12.98% at $36.64 at publicatoin on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro data. Photo via Shutterstock This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.

Applied Digital Enters Lease Agreement With U.S. Based Hyperscaler For USD 7,500 Million At Delta Forge 1 Campus

Applied Digital 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 USD 7,500 million 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 USD 23,000 million 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. 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. Applied Digital expects to enter into an up to USD 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 USD 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.

Applied Digital signs $7.5 billion AI data center lease with US hyperscaler

Applied Digital Corporation is a designer, developer, and operator of next-generation digital infrastructure across North America. It provides digital infrastructure solutions and cloud services for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI). Its segments include Blockchain data center hosting (the Datacenter Hosting Business), cloud services, through a wholly owned subsidiary (the Cloud Services Business) and HPC data center hosting (the HPC Hosting Business). The Datacenter hosting segment operates datacenters to provide energized space to crypto-mining customers. The Cloud services segment operates through its Sai Computing brand and provides cloud services for customers, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning developers, to develop their advanced products. The HPC hosting segment designs, builds, and operates datacenters, which are designed to support high-computer applications using advanced infrastructures to provide services to customers.