DALLAS, Oct. 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Applied Digital (NASDAQ: APLD) achieved successful and on-time Ready for Service (RFS) for the first phase (50 MW), at the first 100 megawatt (MW) building at its Polaris Forge 1 AI Factory Campus in Ellendale, North Dakota. This milestone underscores Applied Digital’s execution as the company scales its AI infrastructure to meet contracted demand. In an environment where speed to market defines competitive advantage, delivering production-scale capacity on time reinforces Applied Digital’s position as a leading provider of AI-optimized infrastructure supporting the cutting-edge AI and high-performance computing (HPC) initiatives of its hyperscale tenant at Polaris Forge 1, CoreWeave.
The Polaris Forge 1 Campus establishes a new operational benchmark for speed-to-power at scale. The first 100 MW building, now Ready for Service for its first phase (50 MW), marks the initial delivery of a fully leased 400 MW critical IT load deployment for CoreWeave under approximately 15-year lease agreements, representing an estimated $11 billion in anticipated lease revenue.
“This Ready for Service milestone is a clear demonstration of our team’s ability to convert highly complex AI Factory designs from blueprint to production with precision and speed,” said Wes Cummins, CEO of Applied Digital. “Bringing the first phase of Polaris Forge 1 online in record time establishes a new standard for the future of data centers. Our team continues to redefine what is possible in delivering the infrastructure that fuels AI.”
With the first phase of delivery now operational, Polaris Forge 1 in Ellendale further positions North Dakota as an emerging epicenter for AI in America’s heartland while propelling Applied Digital’s state-of-the-art AI Factory Campus into full production.
“Bringing this first building online while on track to deliver the next 50 MW before the end of the year spotlights our team’s precise execution, strategic planning, and strong alignment with our innovative partners,” said Laura Laltrello, COO of Applied Digital. “We design every element of our facilities to enable breakthrough capabilities, while optimizing energy performance, flexibility, and total cost of ownership.”
Purpose-built, Polaris Forge 1 is engineered to expand to 1 gigawatt (GW) over time to meet the rapidly intensifying demands of AI and high-performance computing and implements Applied Digital’s proprietary design, including liquid cooling and power distribution innovations with near-zero water consumption. Combined with North Dakota’s cool climate and access to renewable power, these efficiencies are estimated to yield $2.7 billion in lifecycle cost savings over 30 years, according to a recent company study.
This announcement comes on the heels of Applied Digital’s $5 billion AI Factory lease agreement with a U.S. Based Investment Grade Hyperscaler at its Polaris Forge 2 Campus in Harwood, North Dakota. In addition, Applied Digital’s Polaris Forge 1 Campus is featured as Capacity Magazine’s Data Center of the Month, October 2025.
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.
Caution About 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 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, and (v) statements of assumptions underlying other statements and statements about the Company or its business. 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: our ability to complete construction of the data centers at our Polaris Forge 1 and Polaris Forge 2 campuses; changes to AI and HPC infrastructure needs and their impact on future plans; risks associated with the leasing business, including those associated with counterparties; 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 ongoing and future data center construction and operations; our ability to obtain financing of the lease agreements 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 lease agreements; our ability to timely and successfully build 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.
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