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Applied Digital (NasdaqGS:APLD) has completed an approximately $2.15 billion secured debt offering to fund its Polaris Forge 2 AI data center campus in North Dakota.
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The Polaris Forge 2 facility is planned as a 200MW AI data center and is pre-leased to Oracle under a long-term agreement.
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The company also signed a separate US$2.4 billion, 1.2 GW power supply agreement to support broader AI and high-performance computing buildouts.
For investors, this positions Applied Digital as an infrastructure provider focused on large-scale cloud and enterprise customers that require AI and high-performance computing power. Oracle’s pre-lease provides Polaris Forge 2 as an anchor tenant from the start, while long-term power agreements are intended to secure critical inputs for data center operations.
These moves place NasdaqGS:APLD more firmly among the group of companies building the physical backbone of AI workloads. The key questions to watch are how effectively the company is managing construction execution, when production capacity comes online, and the financing costs associated with long-term customer contracts.
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This funding and infrastructure move will further align Applied Digital with large investment-grade customers who require AI and high-performance computing power. The $2.15 billion, 6.750% senior secured notes due in 2031 are sized to build 200MW at Polaris Forge 2, with Oracle already lined up as a long-term tenant. This structure provides a clearer link between a particular asset, its financing, and its contracted sources of cash flow. This is different from capacity building, which is more speculative. On the power side, there is a 1.2 GW contract with Base Electron, with an option for a further 1.2 GW, aimed at securing one of the key inputs that often constrains the growth of AI data centers. These deals show that Applied Digital is trying to play on the same playing field as data center operators and infrastructure owners that serve hyperscalers like Equinix and Digital Realty, or operators that support Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, but with a focus on North America and heavy use of AI.
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Oracle’s long-term pre-lease and 1.2 GW of power contracts are consistent with its narrative focus on hyperscaler contracts and power access as key support for future AI demands.
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The heavy use of collateralized debt and completion guarantees also highlights balance sheet and execution risks, which have already emerged as key monitoring points in the story.
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The specific structure of this bond deal and the Base Electron partnership is not fully captured in the story, which primarily refers to the previous CoreWeave lease and Macquarie-backed financing.
