NEW YORK, December 30, 2025, 07:38 ET — Premarket.
- Applied Digital shares rose about 2% in premarket after a late-Monday plan to spin out its cloud business into “ChronoScale”
- Company said it signed a non-binding term sheet with EKSO Bionics; Applied Digital expects to own about 97% of the combined firm
- Investors are watching for definitive deal terms and Jan. 7 earnings for updates on spending and buildout plans
Applied Digital shares rose $0.49, or about 2%, to $25.30 in premarket trading on Tuesday. The stock ended Monday at $24.81.
The move puts the spotlight back on the market for GPU cloud capacity, where companies training and running large AI models have been scrambling for computing power.
Investors have rewarded infrastructure-linked names that can secure data center space, power and advanced chips, even as supply bottlenecks keep project timelines and costs in focus.
Applied Digital said late Monday it signed a non-binding term sheet with exoskeleton maker EKSO Bionics to combine its Applied Digital Cloud business with EKSO and operate it as ChronoScale Corporation, a GPU-focused compute platform for AI workloads. Applied Digital expects to own about 97% of the combined company and said the transaction is targeted to close in the first half of 2026, subject to due diligence and approvals; it also said the cloud unit generated about $75.2 million in trailing 12-month revenue as of Aug. 31, 2025, and deployed Nvidia’s H100 data-center GPUs at scale in 2023. “Deliver accelerated compute at scale for the most demanding AI workloads,” Applied Digital Chief Executive Wes Cummins said. Applied Digital Corporation
In a filing, the company said ChronoScale expects to file a registration statement on Form S-4, which typically includes a proxy statement and prospectus, as part of the approval process. That would set the stage for more detailed disclosures and a shareholder vote at EKSO.
GPUs, or graphics processing units, are chips widely used to train AI systems and run them once deployed. “Training” refers to building the model, while “inference” is using it to generate outputs in real time.
The deal structure drew attention across both stocks. EKSO shares were up about 38% in after-hours trading on Monday, while Applied Digital was little changed after the announcement.
For Applied Digital investors, the key question is whether ChronoScale becomes a cleaner vehicle to fund GPU expansion while leaving the parent focused on building and operating data centers. The company would still control the combined entity if it ends up with the expected stake.
Competition will remain a pressure point. The GPU cloud market pits specialist operators against far larger cloud providers, and access to chips, power and cooling can determine who wins the next wave of enterprise AI workloads.
Traders will also watch whether the company provides more specificity on customer demand and timing for capacity additions. Details on financing plans, capital spending and deployment schedules often drive sharp moves in this corner of the market.
Applied Digital is scheduled to report fiscal second-quarter results after the market closes on Jan. 7 and host a conference call at 5 p.m. ET, the company said. Investors will listen for updates on spending, liquidity and any progress from term sheet to definitive documentation on ChronoScale.
With the opening bell approaching, the near-term test is whether premarket gains hold once regular trading begins. Deal headlines can fade quickly without fresh numbers, and this stock has shown it can swing hard on incremental updates.
