Investment firm Macquarie Asset Management (MAM) is set to invest $5 billion into Applied, a cryptomining firm pivoting to AI and HPC data centers. Under the deal, MAM will invest up to $900 million in Applied's Ellendale campus in development in North Dakota, and has the right of first refusal to invest an additional $4.1 billion in future data centers for 30 months.
"We believe this expanded relationship with MAM positions Applied Digital for significant growth in the industry, establishing Applied Digital as one of the fastest-growing HPC data center owners, operators, and developers in the United States. At today’s build costs, we will have a significant portion of the equity needed to construct over 2 GW of HPC data center capacity, including our Ellendale HPC Campus,” said Wes Cummins, chairman and CEO of Applied Digital.
“With an 85 percent ownership stake in both existing and future HPC assets and access to a project-level preferred equity financing facility sufficient to fund our HPC project pipeline, we believe we are poised for transformative progress. We are excited to have MAM’s support as we establish ourselves as a leader in the Tier 3 data center infrastructure sector, while continuing to develop and operate large-scale, state-of-the-art data centers for world-class customers at the forefront of the AI revolution."
“We are excited to partner with Applied Digital to build and scale its HPC data center platform,” added Anton Moldan, senior managing director of Macquarie Asset Management. "Applied Digital has a differentiated strategy with access to a unique near-term power portfolio across North America in markets attractive for computing needs which address the most demanding AI and other HPC applications at scale. The significant progress at the Ellendale HPC campus makes this a very compelling opportunity for us as well as for potential hyperscale customers.”
