Applied Digital is a US-based AI data center company founded in 2015 that designs, builds, and operates high-performance computing facilities for AI training and inference workloads. It operates in the neocloud segment alongside CoreWeave, Lambda Labs, and Crusoe.
Facilities and demand
Applied Digital's flagship data center is in Ellendale, North Dakota. On May 10, 2025, The Information reported that the Ellendale facility was sitting largely empty (Source: Raw Sources/the-information-applied-digital-ellendale.md). North Dakota offered cheap power but posed challenges in attracting AI workloads, which are concentrated among a relatively small number of frontier labs and cloud customers. According to The Information's report, the situation raised questions about whether the AI infrastructure buildout was producing overcapacity in certain geographies or market segments.
Operators in the neocloud and AI data center sector face execution challenges including securing anchor tenants, managing capital expenditure timelines, and navigating the Data Center Siting / AI Power Politics complexities of power, cooling, and network connectivity in less established locations.
Relationships
- related: CoreWeave — fellow neocloud provider
- related: Lambda Labs — competing neocloud provider
- related: Crusoe — competing neocloud provider
- related: Stargate Project — AI infrastructure buildout driving data center investment
- related: Data Center Siting / AI Power Politics — Ellendale case study in siting challenges
- related: NERC 2025 Long-Term Reliability Assessment (LTRA) — energy and grid considerations for data center placement