75 Billion Dollar AI Data Center Long-Term Lease: Emerging Hidden Hyperscale Beneficiary?

Applied Digital Corp. (APLD) has signed a 15-year lease with an investment-grade hyperscaler at its 430 MW Delta Forge 1 AI data center campus in the U.S. South, securing approximately $7.5 billion in committed revenue and boosting its total backlog to $23 billion.

To fund expansions at its Polaris Forge 1 & 2 campuses and the development of Delta Forge 1, the company is pursuing up to $300 million in bridge financing and a $300 million revolving credit facility. In its fiscal third quarter of 2026, Applied Digital reported revenue of $126.6 million—a 139% year-over-year increase—while posting a GAAP net loss of about $100 million. During the same period, one board member sold roughly $800,000 worth of common stock on the open market.

Following the $7.5 billion AI data center deal announcement, U.S. media and investment communities have noted a sharp rise in APLD’s share price and a surge in options trading. In its latest investor presentation, the company highlighted its AI-dedicated “AI Factory” model and emphasized its goal of attracting additional hyperscale customers.

Applied Digital designs, builds, and operates high-performance, liquid-cooled data centers for AI, cloud, networking, and blockchain workloads, generating revenue through long-term leases with hyperscale clients—particularly major cloud providers. As AI training demand soars amid power and site constraints, the scale of long-term contracts with investment-grade hyperscalers has become a key metric of creditworthiness and growth potential in the North American hyperscale data center market.