Applied Digital Corp. (APLD)

Applied Digital Corporation is a U.S.-based designer, developer, and operator of next-generation digital infrastructure across North America, providing digital infrastructure solutions and cloud services to the High-Performance Computing (HPC) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) industries. Originally incorporated as Applied Blockchain, Inc., the company completed its IPO in April 2022 and rebranded to Applied Digital Corporation in November 2022; its stock trades on Nasdaq. The company operates through three segments: Data Center Hosting, Cloud Services, and HPC Hosting.

Data Center Hosting, which generated approximately 83% of fiscal 2024 revenue, provides energized infrastructure to seven crypto mining customers under three-to-five-year contracts, operating facilities in Jamestown (106 MW) and Ellendale (180 MW), North Dakota, totaling roughly 286 MW. The company sold its 200 MW Garden City, Texas facility to a Marathon Digital Holdings subsidiary in April 2024 for up to $87.3 million plus additional consideration, recognizing a $15.4 million loss on the transaction; escrowed proceeds were later released upon meeting regulatory conditions. Cloud Services, launched in May 2023 through subsidiary Applied Digital Cloud Corporation, delivers GPU computing solutions for AI, machine learning, and HPC workloads, relying on major suppliers including NVIDIA, Super Micro, HPE, and Dell; by May 2024 the company had deployed 6,144 GPUs (4,096 revenue-generating) and served two customers, representing about 17% of fiscal 2024 revenue.

HPC Hosting focuses on designing and constructing data centers tailored for AI and HPC applications, including a 7.5 MW facility in Jamestown and a 100 MW facility under construction in Ellendale, with plans to expand to 400 MW capacity; the company has an exclusivity agreement and letter of intent with a U.S.-based hyperscaler for a 400 MW lease, with meaningful revenue expected once the Ellendale HPC facility becomes operational in 2025. The company faces competition from cloud providers (Coreweave, Crusoe Energy, Lambda Labs), data center operators (Digital Realty, Equinix, NTT), and crypto hosting competitors (Core Scientific, Bitdeer, Riot Platforms). It maintains significant customer concentration risk, with one customer representing 62% of revenue and related-party transactions involving GMR Limited and affiliated entities.

The company employed approximately 150 full-time employees as of May 31, 2024, and emphasizes growth strategies including expanding HPC hosting capacity, leveraging equipment vendor relationships, securing scalable power sites, and vertically integrating power assets, while navigating an evolving regulatory landscape around cryptoasset mining, energy usage, and AI development. The company also experienced an operational disruption at its Ellendale facility in January 2024 due to transformer failures, which was subsequently resolved through equipment replacement, restoring full capacity. Applied Digital is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.