| Scope | Measurement boundary | Attributed status | Disclosure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Building 1 | 100 MW critical IT load | Phase II RFS reported | Nov 24, 2025 |
| Building 2 | 150 MW critical IT load | Second phase completes building | Oct 2, 2026 |
| Campus delivered scope | 250 MW critical IT load | Operational / RFS reported | Oct 2, 2026 |
| Contracted full buildout | 400 MW critical IT load | Contracted scope; distinct from delivered | Oct 2, 2026 |
Read the project as a dated evidence record
Applied Digital's Polaris Forge 1 campus in Ellendale, North Dakota offers a useful public example of phased infrastructure delivery. This analysis reviews issuer disclosures available on October 13, 2026. It distinguishes what the company says is delivered from contracted future scope and financing. It is not an independent site inspection, commissioning report or investment recommendation.
The first reading rule is to attach a date and measurement boundary to every number. Critical IT load, a campus design, a lease commitment and a funding transaction describe different things. A fact can be correctly quoted yet misleadingly charted if its status is lost. Our proposed evidence table therefore records project, unit, scope, action date, disclosure date, status and the unresolved next milestone.
Applied Digital brings an additional 75 MW online at Polaris Forge 1 (external source) · Applied Digital fiscal first quarter 2027 results (external source)The latest delivered phase and the full buildout differ
The October 2, 2026 release reported a further 75 MW at Building 2 reaching Ready for Service, or RFS. It described Building 2 at its full 150 MW of critical IT load and the campus at 250 MW operational critical IT load. In the same disclosure, contracted full buildout was 400 MW. Those numbers belong in different status rows.
A reader should resist turning the difference into a precise construction forecast or treating the contracted figure as presently delivered capacity. The useful question is which remaining scope has the next acceptance event and what evidence will establish it. A contract can support future demand while construction remains underway. Conversely, an operating phase is stronger delivery evidence without establishing completion of the entire campus.
Applied Digital brings an additional 75 MW online at Polaris Forge 1 (external source)Phases make intermediate progress visible
A November 24, 2025 release described a second 50 MW phase completing the first building's 100 MW critical IT load. The October 7, 2026 quarterly release then reported Building 2 phases reaching RFS on July 1 and October 1, 2026. These dated milestones create a more informative delivery sequence than a single full-campus capacity headline.
Aguasto's interpretation is that a campus can deliver accepted scope while additional scope remains unfinished. An original phase diagram should retain the named building and reported acceptance event rather than draw every future unit as operating. This supports a disciplined discussion of sequencing. It does not establish that Polaris Forge 1 uses containerized modules, prove one construction method superior or supply an Aguasto deployment timeline.
Applied Digital completes Phase II RFS at the first 100 MW Polaris Forge 1 building (external source) · Applied Digital fiscal first quarter 2027 results (external source)Financing has its own completion boundary
The October 7 release also reported closed US$1.59 billion senior secured notes through subsidiary APLD ComputeCo 3 LLC, with construction and bridge-repayment uses. That is a financing disclosure. It is separate from the company's RFS milestones and does not establish total campus cost, operating revenue or revenue generated by the newly delivered halls.
For a public-case worksheet, keep the financing entity, reporting period, stated use and completion status next to the transaction. Do not divide the funding amount by one conveniently selected capacity figure to produce an apparent cost per megawatt. The transaction may address more than one use, and the selected MW denominator may describe a different scope. An engineering comparison needs matched capital and capacity boundaries before any arithmetic is meaningful.
Applied Digital fiscal first quarter 2027 results (external source)Critical IT load is not inference output
The latest delivery release uses critical IT load as its capacity boundary. That is useful facility information, but it does not specify how many useful model requests the customer completes, what latency those requests meet or which GPU configuration is generally available to rent. No conversion from the reported MW to tokens per second is justified by the reviewed delivery statements.
A compute-service comparison needs additional evidence: system inventory, exact workload, serving software, offered demand, completed work and customer-observed latency. Keep those fields unknown when they are absent. A source-supported case becomes more useful when it shows what remains to be tested rather than attaching assumed GPUs per MW or a generic token-performance multiplier to a real facility number.
Applied Digital brings an additional 75 MW online at Polaris Forge 1 (external source) · Applied Digital fiscal first quarter 2027 results (external source)Resolve wording with the more specific milestone
The October 7 release summarizes the first 100 MW building as becoming operational in October 2025. The earlier November 24 release specifically describes Phase II RFS completing that building's full 100 MW. We retain the specific dated phase disclosure rather than infer that the complete 100 MW had already reached that same acceptance state in October.
This is a documentation boundary, not evidence of a failure or an explanation for a delay. Record the two statements and avoid inventing a reconciliation. Similarly, the quarterly release concerns a period ending August 31, 2026 but separately reports the October 1 milestone after quarter end. An event's occurrence date and the financial period accompanying its disclosure must remain distinct in a timeline.
Applied Digital completes Phase II RFS at the first 100 MW Polaris Forge 1 building (external source) · Applied Digital fiscal first quarter 2027 results (external source)Use the case without borrowing operating credibility
The case provides dated evidence that substantial AI infrastructure can advance through delivered phases alongside a larger contracted plan. It counters a blanket narrative that all large data-center development has stopped. It does not show that every announced project succeeds, establish a universal time to power or validate a different company's design and financing assumptions.
For Aguasto, the relevant discipline is to publish a milestone only when the supporting evidence exists and to distinguish facility acceptance from a usable compute product. The commissioning, infrastructure-to-inference and benchmark guides describe adjacent evaluation boundaries. Applied Digital and its customers are independent third parties; this analysis creates no Aguasto customer, partner, OEM or project relationship and represents no operating Aguasto facility.
Applied Digital brings an additional 75 MW online at Polaris Forge 1 (external source) · Applied Digital fiscal first quarter 2027 results (external source)Sources & verification
The register preserves each source's publication and verification date. Manufacturer claims and documentation are attributed; Aguasto has not run the cited products in production.
- Applied Digital completes Phase II RFS at the first 100 MW Polaris Forge 1 building ↗
Second 50 MW phase completing the first building's 100 MW critical IT load; Specific dated RFS milestone. Publication: 2025-11-24. Verified: 2026-10-13.
- Applied Digital brings an additional 75 MW online at Polaris Forge 1 ↗
Company-reported 250 MW operational critical IT load; 150 MW Building 2 and 400 MW contracted full-buildout boundary. Publication: 2026-10-02. Verified: 2026-10-13.
- Applied Digital fiscal first quarter 2027 results ↗
Quarter ending August 31 versus subsequent October 1 RFS; July 1 and October 1 Building 2 phase dates; Closed US$1.59 billion financing disclosure; Condensed Building 1 operational wording. Publication: 2026-10-07. Verified: 2026-10-13.