New York, Feb 10, 2026, 14:05 EST — Regular session
- APLD hovered near unchanged, shaking off a broad intraday move between $39.90 and $37.50.
- A fresh SEC filing lays out a five-year equity incentive plan, directly linked to landing hyperscaler lease agreements and bringing new data centers online.
- Bitcoin dropped roughly 2%, while shares of a few crypto infrastructure firms also moved down.
Shares of Applied Digital Corp took a hit Tuesday, following a regulatory filing that detailed new performance-driven stock awards linked to big hyperscaler data-center deals. By early afternoon, the stock was off roughly 0.2%, changing hands at $38.18.
Details are taking center stage as Applied Digital shifts into a high-beta play, hinging on the idea that U.S. demand for artificial-intelligence data centers will actually translate into signed, long-term leases and operational campuses. Executive compensation is now explicitly linked to hitting those targets.
Applied Digital designs and runs high-performance computing (HPC) data centers – the backbone infrastructure for training and running AI models. Now, in its latest filing, the company’s ambitions show up in megawatts and gigawatts. That’s the yardstick for data center power, and, for investors, a quick way to gauge just how much computing the firm has to offer.
The company, in an 8-K posted Monday, disclosed its board signed off on fresh equity awards for President and Co-Founder Jason Zhang—1.5 million performance stock units plus 500,000 restricted units. CFO Saidal Mohmand landed 750,000 performance units and 250,000 restricted. One unit equals one common share at vesting. According to the filing, these grants are intended to cover equity compensation for the next five years. (Source: 1 )
Zhang’s performance units kick in piece by piece if Applied Digital lands 15-year or longer deals with investment-grade hyperscalers. But there’s a catch—they also need to get that data center up and running, “ready for service,” at the 600-megawatt and 1.6-gigawatt milestones. Over on Mohmand’s side, his performance units are linked to net operating income for the HPC hosting segment. The bar there: $1 billion and $2 billion in trailing 12-month NOI by Feb. 28, 2031, according to the filing.
By around 2 p.m. EST, shares trading on the Nasdaq barely budged—essentially flat—after swinging up roughly 4% earlier, then slipping 2%. The stock jumped between $39.90 and $37.50 as traders moved in and out. Nearly 18 million shares had changed hands. (Source: 2 )
Stocks tied to crypto infrastructure slipped alongside a weaker crypto tape. Bitcoin fell roughly 2%. Core Scientific and Hut 8 lost ground, though data-center REIT Equinix managed a modest gain.
Applied Digital straddles two worlds—AI data-center landlord and old-school crypto hosting for bitcoin miners—which keeps it exposed to both sectors. In its filing, the company said all 400 megawatts at its Polaris Forge 1 site in North Dakota are now leased out to a single hyperscaler tenant. Over at Polaris Forge 2, which is still in the early build phase, Applied Digital reported a 200-megawatt lease agreement with an investment-grade hyperscaler.
Applied Digital reported in January that it held roughly $2.3 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash at the end of November 2025, while debt stood around $2.6 billion. “This strong liquidity position gives us flexibility to complete construction,” Mohmand said. (Source: 3 )
On Jan. 7, Reuters said the company topped quarterly revenue forecasts, crediting stronger AI data-center demand. CEO Wes Cummins pointed to the Dakotas, describing the region’s cool climate and plentiful energy as a draw for hyperscalers. (Source: 4 )
But turning signed contracts into real cash isn’t always straightforward. The company itself points to risks—construction delays, customers dragging their feet, uncertainty around financing, plus reliance on a handful of major tenants. Any of these could trip up the stock, especially after such a sharp run higher.
Investors are zeroing in on two things: fresh long-term hyperscaler deals and increased “ready for service” capacity. Those are also the targets baked into Zhang’s performance-unit metrics. The company hasn’t announced when it will release its next quarterly numbers—market trackers like MarketBeat are penciling in April 13. (Source: 5 )
