AI data center operations · NEWS BRIEF

Applied Digital says another 75 MW is online at Polaris Forge 1

By Grid & Silicon · Published October 2, 2026
Source: Applied Digital company announcement · October 2, 2026

What happened

Applied Digital says the second phase of Building 2 at Polaris Forge 1 has reached ready-for-service status, adding 75 megawatts of critical IT load across three data halls in Ellendale, North Dakota.

What moved into operation

The October 2 company announcement covers three 25-megawatt data halls in the second phase of Building 2. Applied Digital says this completes that building's 150 megawatts of critical IT load and raises the campus total it describes as fully operational to 250 megawatts. The earlier operating capacity consists of the first 100-megawatt building and the initial 75-megawatt phase of Building 2.

Ready for service is a delivery milestone: the company is saying the halls have progressed through construction and commissioning to a condition in which contracted infrastructure can be used. The release does not say how much computing equipment is already installed, how heavily the halls are loaded or whether customers are drawing the full 75 megawatts today.

Why critical IT load is the useful number

Critical IT load refers to electrical capacity available to servers and related computing equipment. It is narrower than a campus's total utility draw because cooling, pumps, power conversion and other building systems also consume electricity. Applied Digital's 75-megawatt figure therefore describes additional compute-serving capacity, not the site's entire incremental demand on the grid.

The physical mechanism is the conversion of secured power into commissioned halls with electrical distribution, cooling and controls capable of supporting high-performance computing. That distinction matters because a project can have land and a power agreement long before it has usable rack capacity.

The remaining 150 MW is still a target

Applied Digital says Polaris Forge 1 is fully leased and contracted for 400 megawatts of critical IT load at full buildout. With 250 megawatts described as operational, 150 megawatts remains outside today's operating total. The release does not provide a completion date for that remainder, identify the customer in this announcement or disclose utilization and revenue associated with the newly delivered halls.

The operational figures and ready-for-service designation come from Applied Digital and are not presented as an independent engineering audit. Future evidence to watch includes customer acceptance, installed compute, sustained utilization and delivery of the final contracted capacity.

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