Applied Digital (Nasdaq: APLD) announced on June 8, 2026 that it signed a 15-year lease for 210 megawatts of critical IT load at Delta Forge 2, a new AI Factory campus in an undisclosed Southern US state, with a US-based investment-grade hyperscaler, according to the company's official press release. The deal matters to anyone watching where the AI boom's money actually lands: it carries approximately $5.2 billion in guaranteed base-term revenue, up to roughly $12.7 billion if all renewal options are exercised over 30 years, and it sent the stock up more than 10% on Tuesday, June 9, Invezz reported.
The Dallas-based company now holds contracts across five AI Factory campuses totaling 1.4 gigawatts of critical IT load, approximately 2.15 GW of grid-connected utility power, and approximately $36 billion in contracted base-term lease revenue, a figure that climbs to $86 billion if every renewal option is exercised, per the June 8 announcement on GlobeNewswire. About 70% of that contracted revenue is backed by US investment-grade hyperscalers. Initial operations at Delta Forge 2 are expected in the first quarter of 2028.
A 15-Year Take-or-Pay Contract Turns a Data Center Into a Bond
The lease uses a take-or-pay structure, and that phrase is doing the heavy lifting in this story. Under take-or-pay, the customer commits to paying for the full 210 MW of contracted capacity whether or not it ends up using all of it, the same way an apartment tenant owes rent regardless of how many nights they sleep at home. For the landlord, that converts a speculative construction project into something resembling a bond: a fixed, multi-decade payment stream from a counterparty with investment-grade credit.
That mechanism explains how a company with a market capitalization of about $12.62 billion, per StockTitan's company data, can credibly book a $36 billion contracted portfolio. CEO Wes Cummins calls the approach a "franchise model": "a core team of design, construction, and operations professionals replicated across every campus, in every market." Two years ago, he said in the June 8 release, the company made a deliberate decision "to build a company that scales, not just builds data centers." The campus will use the company's proprietary waterless cooling and high-density power systems built for AI training and inference workloads.
Who Is Applied Digital's Unnamed Hyperscaler Customer?
Applied Digital declined to name the tenant or the state, describing the customer only as a "US based high investment-grade hyperscaler." What is known: this is the third long-term lease with the same customer, which previously signed agreements at two other Applied Digital facilities, Invezz reported. The April 23, 2026 lease at Delta Forge 1, covering 300 MW of a 430 MW campus, used identical anonymous language and lifted the stock 12.1% that day, per StockTitan's deal history.
No major outlet has identified the company, and TechTimes could not independently verify the customer's identity. The pool of US-based investment-grade hyperscalers is small, but absent sourced reporting, attaching any specific name would be speculation. One geographic clue has surfaced: Construction Review Online reported Delta Forge 1's home as Louisiana, a $3.6 billion campus, while Delta Forge 2's state remains undisclosed beyond "a new southern state."
Needham Lifts Its Target to $83 and Lake Street Goes to $90
Wall Street's reaction on June 9 was uniformly positive. Needham analyst John Todaro maintained a Buy rating and raised his price target to $83 from $66, writing, "We continue to be pleasantly surprised with the pace Applied Digital is signing additional capacity across its power portfolio," per Invezz. Lake Street lifted its target to $90 from $70, citing the value created by the new lease, while Compass Point reiterated a Buy with a $70 target and Citizens maintained a Market Outperform rating with a $60 target.
According to FactSet data cited in the same Invezz report, all 13 analysts covering APLD rate the stock a Buy. The company's contracted income pipeline now stands at nearly $2.1 billion in annual net operating income, and Lake Street noted Applied Digital continues to market approximately 1.4 GW of additional capacity for future deals.
Five Campuses and a Spinoff: How the AI Landlord Model Took Shape in 2026
Applied Digital's 2026 reads like a land rush diary. The company broke ground on Delta Forge 1, signed that campus's 300 MW anchor lease on April 23, spun off its cloud business as the independent public company ChronoScale on May 5, crossed 1 GW of contracted capacity with the Polaris Forge 3 lease on May 20, and announced both the Delta Forge 2 lease and a $550 million revolving credit facility on June 8, according to StockTitan's news records. Its earlier campuses sit in North Dakota, where one AI factory is under construction and another is partially operational, Invezz reported.
The market has rewarded the pivot. APLD shares have risen roughly 60% year to date and have more than tripled over the past 12 months, even after Nvidia exited its equity stake in the company, per Invezz. The thesis has migrated from speculative, crypto-adjacent computing to a straightforward landlord business: build the powered shell, sign a 15-year investment-grade tenant, collect rent, repeat across five campuses.
Customer Concentration, Construction Financing and Dilution Are the Three Big Risks
Three risks temper the celebration. The first is concentration: three of the company's long-term leases sit with one unnamed hyperscaler, so a single counterparty's decisions on ramp timing or renewals can move billions of dollars of projected revenue. Invezz flagged the key risk bluntly: if the customer delays or cancels the 2028 start, contracted revenue becomes stranded capacity.
The second is construction financing. Delta Forge 2 generates no revenue until the first quarter of 2028, and the buildout has been funded through a Macquarie development loan facility, preferred equity draws of $787.5 million each, a $300 million senior secured bridge facility announced May 4, and the new $550 million revolver, per StockTitan's records. The third is dilution: Applied Digital has an active S-3 shelf registration filed September 26, 2025, and funding announcements have occasionally hurt the stock, including a 7.6% drop after a November preferred equity draw.
There is also a softer caveat buried in the headline numbers. The gap between $36 billion contracted and $86 billion potential consists entirely of renewal options that no customer is obligated to exercise. The bull case is that hyperscalers, which TechTimes has reported are projected to spend well over $600 billion on infrastructure in 2026, keep racing to lock up power years ahead of demand. The bear case is that 30-year projections rest on choices that get made in the 2040s. This article is not investment advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Applied Digital announce on June 8, 2026?
Applied Digital signed a 15-year, take-or-pay lease for 210 MW of critical IT load at Delta Forge 2, its fifth AI Factory campus, located in an undisclosed Southern US state. The deal is worth about $5.2 billion in base-term revenue, or up to $12.7 billion with all renewals over 30 years.
What is a take-or-pay lease?
A take-or-pay lease requires the customer to pay for the full contracted capacity whether or not it uses all of it. The structure gives the data center owner a predictable, bond-like revenue stream and shifts utilization risk onto the tenant.
Who is Applied Digital's hyperscaler customer?
The company has not named the customer, describing it only as a US-based high investment-grade hyperscaler. It is the same customer behind two earlier Applied Digital leases, and no major news outlet has independently identified it.
When will Delta Forge 2 begin operations?
Applied Digital expects initial operations at Delta Forge 2 to commence in the first quarter of 2028. The campus will use the company's proprietary waterless cooling and high-density power infrastructure for AI training and inference workloads.
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