CoreWeave’s stock value shot up 25% on Tuesday and has seen an additional 5% rise in pre-market trading, marking a year-to-date increase of an impressive 276%. This surge follows the announcement of a $7 billion infrastructure project with Applied Digital.

The AI cloud-computing startup has entered into two 15-year lease agreements for a combined 250 megawatts (MW) of IT load at Applied Digital’s Ellendale campus in North Dakota.

• The first phase, with 100MW, is anticipated to commence operations in the fourth quarter of 2025.
• A second facility with an additional 150MW is set to open in mid-2026, along with an option for an extra 300MW.

Applied Digital’s Ellendale campus is structured to support up to 400MW of critical IT load, with over 1GW of power capacity under consideration for future expansion.

CEO Wes Cummins emphasized the significance of this deal in reinforcing Applied Digital’s position in the AI and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure market. Recently, the company secured $375 million in funding from SMBC to expedite the development process. Investors maintain a strong optimistic outlook regarding the increasing demand for AI technology.