Applied Digital Corporation (APLD) shares closed higher for a holiday-shortened trading week, as the company completed a $1.59 billion senior secured notes sale to fund construction of its Polaris Forge 1 artificial intelligence data-center campus in North Dakota. The stock ended Thursday at $46.59, up 2.24% on the day and roughly 9.1% from the prior Friday's close of $42.70.
The Nasdaq was closed on Friday for the Juneteenth holiday, making Thursday's close the final price of the week. The broader market also provided a tailwind, with the Nasdaq Composite rising 1.91% to 26,517.93 and the S&P 500 gaining 1.08% as chip stocks led a rebound ahead of the long weekend.
Funding Details and Campus Expansion
According to a company filing, APLD ComputeCo 3, a subsidiary of Applied Digital, completed a private sale of $1.59 billion in 7.000% senior secured notes due 2031. These notes are backed by collateral and are paid ahead of unsecured creditors if the borrower faces financial difficulty. The proceeds will fund construction and related costs for 150 megawatts of critical IT load at ELN-04, the fourth building within the Polaris Forge 1 campus in Ellendale, North Dakota.
This funding follows a busy period for the company. Earlier in June, Applied Digital announced a 210-megawatt, 15-year take-or-pay lease at Delta Forge 2 with a U.S.-based investment-grade hyperscaler. Under the take-or-pay structure, the customer must pay for the contracted capacity regardless of usage. The company estimates base-term contracted revenue from that deal at approximately $5.2 billion, or about $12.7 billion if all renewal options are exercised.
Market Sentiment and Risks
Chief Executive Wes Cummins framed the company's strategy around scalable growth, stating that Applied Digital aimed to "build a company that scales." Chief Financial Officer Saidal Mohmand noted that lender support for a separate revolving credit facility showed "confidence ... in our ability to execute." The market appears to be rewarding both financing progress and lease announcements, but risks remain.
The buildout carries execution risk: Delta Forge 2 is not expected to begin initial operations until the first quarter of 2028, the customer remains unnamed, and the new notes carry a fixed 7% interest rate while project revenue depends on construction milestones and lease commencements. Applied Digital also cautioned in a filing that actual results could differ from forward-looking statements due to market conditions and other risk factors.
Adjacent AI-infrastructure names also rose in the latest session. CoreWeave gained 2.4%, Nebius added 2.2%, and IREN rose 3.3%, according to market data. The broader AI trade remains under scrutiny, with investors watching Micron's upcoming earnings as a test of data-center demand and the durability of AI spending. Andy Pratt of Burney Company commented that the AI trend still has "a lot of juice."
For Applied Digital, the equity story has evolved beyond mere megawatts under contract. The company is now valued as a financing-and-execution vehicle for AI demand, where signed capacity, utility access, and the cost of capital all matter. The key question is whether those megawatts arrive on time and at margins that justify the leverage.
On the balance sheet front, a June 17 filing indicated that a condition tied to escrow arrangements for separate 6.75% senior secured notes due 2031 had been satisfied, allowing funds in that escrow account to be released to the issuer. While this is a technical detail, it provides a cleaner sign for balance-sheet watchers.
