Data center firm Applied Digital has broken ground on a new campus.

The company this week announced that it has broken ground on Delta Forge 1, an AI factory campus located in a “strategic southern US market.”

Delta Forge 1 is designed to support an initial 430MW of total utility power, enabling up to 300MW of IT load, with the ability to “scale considerably” in 2028.

The first phase will comprise two 150MW buildings on some 500 acres. Initial operations at Delta Forge 1 are expected to commence in mid-2027.​​

"Delta Forge 1 represents the next stage of Applied Digital’s growth, as we continue to deliver AI infrastructure through disciplined execution,” said Wes Cummins, chairman and CEO of Applied Digital. “AI Factories succeed or fail based on how effectively power, cooling, and operations are integrated. We believe this campus will be built to scale alongside hyperscale demand while delivering operational certainty for customers and lasting value for the communities where we operate.”

Applied said it was in discussions with a “prospective investment-grade hyperscale customer” over the campus, though details weren’t shared.

The company’s Polaris Forge 1 and 2 hyperscale campuses are located in Ellendale and Harwood, North Dakota. The former is set to be leased to CoreWeave while much of the latter is set to be leased to an unnamed “investment grade hyperscaler.”

Applied Digital was founded as Applied Blockchain but does not mine its own Bitcoin, traditionally hosting hardware on behalf of other cryptomining firms. It also hosts HPC and AI hardware amid massive demand for available capacity. Applied is also offering its own cloud services, but is spinning the company out into a separate entity.