Applied Digital Q1 Earnings Call Highlights

Key Points

• Strong quarterly growth: Fiscal Q1 revenue surged 322% year over year to $341.9 million, while adjusted EBITDA increased to $64.4 million from $500,000. Results benefited from expanding HPC hosting operations and ChronoScale’s GPU-related business.
• Large contracted expansion pipeline: Applied Digital has approximately $36 billion in contracted revenue across five campuses and expects to bring more than 600 MW of capacity online over the next 12 months. It is targeting 3.5–4 GW of operating capacity by the end of 2030.
• Funding and geographic expansion: The company raised $1.59 billion through 7% senior secured notes to fund Polaris Forge development and repay a bridge facility, while advancing new campuses in Louisiana, Alabama and Finland. Applied Digital also secured a long-term agreement for power from a planned 1,200-MW North Dakota natural-gas facility.

Applied Digital NASDAQ: APLD reported fiscal first-quarter revenue of $341.9 million, up 322% from $80.9 million a year earlier, as the company continued to expand its high-performance computing hosting operations and advance development of AI-focused data center campuses.

Chairman and CEO Wes Cummins said the company has approximately $36 billion in contracted revenue across five campuses in three states. Applied Digital’s near-term focus is converting that contracted portfolio into operating capacity while selectively pursuing new development opportunities.

The company expects to place more than 600 megawatts of capacity into service during the next 12 months, compared with 250 MW placed into service over the prior 12 months. Cummins said Applied Digital expects roughly 250 MW of expansion leases to be executed by the end of calendar 2026 at “materially higher pricing” than prior leases.

North Dakota Build-Out and Power Supply

North Dakota remains Applied Digital’s largest operating region. The company said its first two buildings at the Polaris Forge 1 campus have reached full ready-for-service status, while a third building is progressing on schedule. The two operational buildings include 10 data halls supported by 250 MW of critical IT load, representing a 150% increase in delivered capacity, according to Cummins.

Applied Digital expects to have 300 MW of critical IT capacity online across North Dakota by the end of calendar 2026, including the expected initial operation of its Harwood campus.

The company also entered a long-term power purchase agreement with Base Electron, an independent power producer in which Applied Digital holds an approximately 10% equity stake. The agreement covers an approximately 1,200-MW natural-gas facility that Base Electron is developing next to Applied Digital’s Polaris Forge 3 campus in central North Dakota. Deliveries are expected to begin in 2030.

Cummins said the arrangement is intended to give Applied Digital greater control over power availability and timing for future campus expansion. During the question-and-answer session, he said Base Electron has procured equipment for roughly 2.4 GW to 2.5 GW of generation capacity and could expand further based on demand.

Financing and Financial Results

CFO Saidal Mohmand said Applied Digital completed financing for its first campus during the quarter. In June, the company closed a $1.59 billion offering of 7% senior secured notes due in 2031, using proceeds to fund the third high-performance computing building at Polaris Forge 1 and repay a $300 million bridge facility.

The financing means the full 400 MW CoreWeave campus at Polaris Forge 1 and the 200 MW of contracted capacity at Polaris Forge 2 are fully funded, Mohmand said. He noted that earlier Polaris Forge 1-related notes carried a 9.25% coupon, compared with the 7% rate on the latest tranche.

The company also expanded its revolving credit facility to $430 million of commitments, with an additional $120 million accordion feature available. Applied Digital is preparing to finance Polaris Forge 3, Delta Forge 1 and Delta Forge 2, which are leased to the same unnamed tier-one, investment-grade hyperscaler under 15-year take-or-pay leases.

• HPC Hosting revenue was $262.6 million, including $65.8 million in base rent, $183.5 million in tenant fit-out services and $13.3 million in tenant recoveries.
• Data Center Hosting revenue, generated by its two Bitcoin hosting sites, was $37.8 million, in line with the prior-year period.
• ChronoScale revenue totaled $41.5 million, including about $23 million in GPU hardware sales.
• Adjusted EBITDA was $64.4 million, compared with $500,000 a year earlier.
• HPC Hosting net operating income was $58.8 million, representing an 89% margin.
• Net loss from continuing operations attributable to common stockholders was $221 million, or $0.76 per share, while adjusted net loss was $4.1 million, or $0.01 per diluted share.

Mohmand said the reported results included $41.3 million of stock-based compensation related to one-time performance stock units and a $67.5 million non-cash loss related to changes in the fair value of Babcock & Wilcox warrants and common-stock investments.

At quarter-end, Applied Digital held approximately $2.9 billion in cash and cash equivalents and $700 million in restricted cash, against about $6.4 billion in debt. More than 80% of the company’s debt principal does not mature until fiscal 2031 or later, Mohmand said.

Expansion Plans in the U.S. and Europe

Applied Digital is developing additional campuses in Louisiana and Alabama and expects the region to begin contributing revenue in the first half of calendar 2027. Cummins said demand remains robust for capacity available in 2027 through 2029 and said the company expects expansion and new-campus lease rates in the first half of 2027 to be materially higher than its contracts signed in the first half of 2026.

The company also made its first move outside the U.S., signing an agreement for up to 1 GW of potential power capacity in Finland. Cummins said the initial 100 MW is expected to be available in 2028, with capacity ramping to 1 GW through 2031. He described the company’s initial exposure as limited, with an option to avoid additional payments before later power additions.

Applied Digital expects construction costs in Finland to be broadly similar to U.S. costs on a dollar-equivalent basis, though Cummins said delivery timelines could be longer in Europe.

ChronoScale and Long-Term Capacity Target

ChronoScale, in which Applied Digital holds an approximately 96% ownership stake, announced a planned 50-MW AI computing deployment in North America with Microsoft using NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 systems. Cummins said ChronoScale is on track to reach $1 billion in annual recurring revenue in 2027 following recent contracts.

He also said ChronoScale’s strategy differs from Applied Digital’s core data center leasing strategy. While Applied Digital is targeting large-scale deployments for tier-one investment-grade hyperscalers, ChronoScale is pursuing smaller, grid-connected sites generally ranging from 50 MW to 100 MW, including modular-build opportunities.

Looking further ahead, Cummins said Applied Digital believes it can grow its operating portfolio to between 3.5 GW and 4 GW by the end of calendar 2030 if demand and execution remain on track. Reaching the upper end of that range would require the company to deliver about 1 GW annually in 2029 and 2030, he said.

About Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD)

Applied Digital Corporation NASDAQ: APLD develops and operates digital infrastructure designed to support high-performance computing, artificial intelligence and other data-intensive applications. The company provides data-center capacity and related services to customers that require substantial computing power and electricity.

The company's business has included hosting infrastructure for cryptocurrency-mining operations and, increasingly, developing facilities for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing workloads.

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