Applied Digital signs $5 billion AI factory lease with U.S. based hyperscaler

Core Insights - Applied Digital signed a $5 billion infrastructure lease agreement with a U.S. hyperscaler, leading to a more than 7% drop in shares, which have decreased over 20% in the past week despite nearly quadrupling this year [1][3] - The lease is for approximately 15 years and will provide 200 megawatts of capacity at the Polaris Forge 2 campus in North Dakota, increasing the total leased capacity to 600 megawatts across two campuses [2][4] - The company is targeting major U.S. hyperscalers such as Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, Amazon, and Google for future partnerships, with the first lease tenant being CoreWeave [3][4] Financial and Operational Highlights - The company has a 4 gigawatt "active pipeline" and previously announced two long-term lease agreements with CoreWeave for 250 megawatts of capacity, expecting $7 billion in rental revenue over 15 years [4][5] - Earlier in the month, Applied Digital secured $5 billion in infrastructure funding from Macquarie Asset Management, indicating strong financial backing for its expansion plans [5]