Applied Digital said Tuesday it has put its first 100 MW direct-to-chip liquid-cooled data center fully online, a milestone the company framed as a proof point for its push into AI infrastructure and a key update for Apld stock investors watching whether the builder can turn power into revenue on time.
The company reported results for the fiscal third quarter ended Feb. 28, 2026, and said the newly completed ELN-02 facility at Polaris Forge 1 is now fully operational. Chief Executive Wes Cummins said the company now operates one of the only 100 MW direct-to-chip liquid-cooled data centers online today and that the first building has begun contributing a full quarter of revenue, helping show the earnings power of the platform.
That first 100 MW represents about one-sixth of Applied Digital’s contracted capacity and one-tenth of what it says is operating or under construction. The scale matters because the company is trying to move beyond development and into steady operations, a transition that can shape how Wall Street values its apld stock if the next facilities come online without delay.
Applied Digital described itself as a designer, builder and operator of high-performance, sustainably engineered data centers and colocation services for AI, cloud, networking and blockchain workloads. It said construction remains on schedule across its North Dakota campuses, where 1,200 skilled craft professionals are advancing the next two 150 MW facilities at Polaris Forge 1, while work at Polaris Forge 2 has moved past foundations and into precast erection.
The company also said it broke ground during the quarter on Delta Forge 1, a 300 MW critical IT load AI Factory campus spanning more than 600 acres. Initial operations there are expected in mid-calendar 2027. Applied Digital said it is actively marketing four development sites in total, including Delta Forge 1 in the southern U.S., one additional site in North Dakota and two sites in unnamed states, with roughly 1 GW of total grid power capacity across the locations subject to approval.
The tension for investors is simple: Applied Digital is showing that one large AI data center can go live and generate revenue, but the company still has to deliver a much bigger buildout across multiple campuses before that operating start becomes a broader business model. Cummins said customers care about turning power into live AI capacity delivered on time and performing as expected, and the next test is whether the rest of the pipeline keeps that promise.
