Applied Digital Falls 4% Despite Bringing 75 MW Online at Polaris Forge 1; IREN and Cipher Digital Also Slide 4%

David MoadelMon, October 5, 2026 at 4:08 PM UTC

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APLD and IREN each dropped 4% even as Applied Digital brought 75 MW of fully leased capacity online at Polaris Forge 1.

SPY gained 0.5% and DTCR edged up 0.1%, pinning the selloff specifically on high-growth AI hosting operators rather than the broader market.

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A fresh capacity mark at Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) is clashing with a pullback across AI data center operators, and the selling pressure is winning out. Applied Digital stock is at $24.31 in midday trading, down 4% despite new progress at the flagship North Dakota campus.

Shares of IREN Limited (NASDAQ:IREN) and Cipher Digital (NASDAQ:CIFR) stock are down 4% as well, rounding out a three-name slide among operators that have shifted toward high-performance computing hosting. Shared roots in crypto mining infrastructure and a common focus on leasing power-dense capacity to AI customers lead the market to trade Applied Digital, IREN and Cipher Digital shares as a group.

Meanwhile, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEARCA:SPY) is up 0.5%, so the wider market remains steady. The Global X Data Center & Digital Infrastructure ETF (NASDAQ:DTCR) is up 0.1%, a small gain that keeps digital infrastructure as a whole in positive territory. That gap places the selling squarely in Applied Digital, IREN and Cipher Digital shares while the fund's larger holdings stay steady.

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Polaris Forge 1 Reaches Another Capacity Milestone

In a press release, Applied Digital announced a milestone. The company reached Ready for Service on the second phase of Building 2 at its Polaris Forge 1 campus in Ellendale, North Dakota, bringing an additional 75 megawatts of critical information technology load online, according to Applied Digital Corporation. Ready for Service marks the point when a data hall is energized, commissioned and available for a tenant to start running its equipment, while critical information technology load measures the power reserved for the computing gear itself. The company's Polaris Forge 1 campus is fully leased, so the new capacity has a tenant in place from the moment it goes live.

Applied Digital chairman and CEO Wes Cummins stated that securing power is only the starting point. Cummins added that the real work is designing, building, commissioning and operating the infrastructure that turns those megawatts into usable capacity for the company's customers. Polaris Forge 1's latest phase shows that process at work and supports the bull case that Applied Digital keeps converting contracted power into operating capacity on schedule.

The Global X DTCR fund holds a mix of established data center landlords, tower owners and chipmakers, a profile far steadier than that of faster-growing AI hosting operators such as Applied Digital, IREN and Cipher Digital. Those operators face higher growth expectations. They also carry heavy build-out spending (we covered seven non-chipmaker suppliers to the AI expansion, from power to cooling, in a free report here), so they tend to swing harder in both directions when sentiment toward AI infrastructure shifts. Such a split explains how the fund can edge higher while Applied Digital, IREN and Cipher Digital shares all slide.

What to Watch Next

What matters for Applied Digital from here is whether contracted demand keeps pace with the capacity the company continues to deliver. A fully leased Polaris Forge 1 is a strong foundation, and additional contracts beyond that campus would show that the Applied Digital build-out is matched by paying customers. The clearest signal on that front will be new lease announcements from Applied Digital.

Operational progress at Applied Digital is real, but the shares remain tightly tied to a volatile peer group. Keeping your stake in Applied Digital moderate lets shareholders follow the Polaris Forge build-out while limiting the damage if the group selloff extends.

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