NEW YORK, Jan 9, 2026, 11:16 EST — Regular session
- Applied Digital shares rose about 11% in U.S. morning trade after a revenue beat and fresh updates on AI data center buildouts
- The company flagged “advanced discussions” with another investment-grade hyperscaler as it expands beyond North Dakota
- Investors are parsing funding terms and the timeline for bringing new megawatts online
Applied Digital Corp shares rose about 11% to $35.38 on Friday, extending a post-earnings run for the AI data center developer as investors focused on new customer talks and the company’s funding stack. Broader U.S. equities were modestly higher.
The move matters because Applied Digital is trying to turn signed power and lease commitments into operating capacity in a market where power, cooling and construction slots are tight. For traders, the question is less “AI demand” and more “how fast, how funded, and how concentrated.”
Applied Digital has pitched itself as a builder and operator of high-performance computing sites — the kind used to train and run AI models — while still carrying a legacy business that hosts bitcoin and crypto miners. Its stock has been volatile around financing and lease headlines.
The company reported fiscal second-quarter revenue of $126.6 million, far above analysts’ average estimate of $88 million, and its shares rose about 7% in extended trading after the results. Reuters said the pickup reflected demand for large-scale facilities used for artificial intelligence workloads.
Applied said it reached “ready-for-service” at its Polaris Forge 1 site — meaning the facility is energized and ready to host customer gear — delivering 100 megawatts of capacity and completing the first of three contracted buildings for CoreWeave. It also reiterated an approximately 15-year lease with an investment-grade hyperscaler for 200 MW at its under-construction Polaris Forge 2 campus, and said it was in advanced discussions with another investment-grade hyperscaler across additional sites. https://ir.applieddigital.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/142/applied-digital-reports-fiscal-second-quarter-2026-results
Management also pointed to a $2.35 billion private offering of 9.25% senior secured notes due 2030 and additional draws under a Macquarie-backed preferred equity facility. “This strong liquidity position gives us flexibility to complete construction,” CFO Saidal Mohmand said, while CEO Wes Cummins called the Dakotas “a compelling region for hyperscalers” because of climate and energy. https://ir.applieddigital.com/sec-filings/all-sec-filings/content/0001144879-26-000002/0001144879-26-000002.pdf
The company reported a net loss attributable to common shareholders of $31.2 million, but said adjusted net income was about break-even and adjusted EBITDA — earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a cash-flow proxy companies often use — was $20.2 million. It also said it expects to spin out Applied Digital Cloud and combine it with EKSO Bionics to form ChronoScale, with Applied expected to initially own more than 80% of the combined company.
But the setup cuts both ways. The company is funding heavy construction with a mix of secured debt and preferred equity, and the pace of lease execution, tenant buildouts and power delivery can slip; a delay can pinch cash flow and force more expensive capital.
Next up, traders will look for any signed lease tied to the “advanced discussions” Cummins described, plus milestone updates on Polaris Forge buildouts. Macro also matters for rate-sensitive growth names: U.S. CPI for December is due on Jan. 13, and the Federal Reserve’s next policy meeting is Jan. 27-28. https://www.bls.gov/cpi/ https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomccalendars.htm
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