Applied Digital stock rises 5% on Polaris Forge 1 update
The AI data center developer brought another 75 MW online in North Dakota, lifting live capacity at its flagship campus to 250 MW
Applied Digital shares climbed roughly 5% on Thursday after the company switched on another big chunk of its North Dakota AI campus.
The Nasdaq-listed company (APLD) said on October 2, 2026, that the second phase of Building 2 at its Polaris Forge 1 AI Factory campus in Ellendale had reached Ready for Service status. That added 75 MW of critical IT load and pushed the site’s operational total to 250 MW.
What actually came online
The new capacity spans three data halls, each rated at 25 MW. “Ready for Service” is the industry’s way of saying the lights, power and cooling are live and the tenant can start moving in equipment.
This latest phase follows two earlier milestones at the same campus. Applied Digital previously completed an initial 100 MW building, then launched a first 75 MW phase of Building 2.
The campus is designed to eventually reach 400 MW of critical IT load, which leaves 150 MW still to be built out. The entire campus is already fully leased under long-term agreements. The anchor customer is CoreWeave, the hyperscale AI cloud provider.
How the stock reacted
APLD rose about 5% intraday on the news, with trading volume running significantly above normal. Some reports put the session high above $26.85 before shares settled around $25.38.
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CEO Wes Cummins framed the milestone around turning power into working capacity. He also stressed the company’s focus on delivering projects on time.
The bigger portfolio picture
Polaris Forge 1 is only one piece of Applied Digital’s pipeline. The company now has about 1.41 GW of contracted critical IT load across five AI Factory campuses.
Those contracts represent roughly $36.2 billion in base-term revenue over initial 15-year lease terms.
What to watch next
The next checkpoint arrives quickly. Applied Digital is scheduled to report fiscal Q1 2027 results on October 7, 2026.
Investors will likely want to see how the newly energized capacity flows into revenue, and whether management updates timelines for the remaining 150 MW at Ellendale. Commentary on the other four campuses will matter just as much, since that is where most of the $36.2 billion backlog still lives.