Applied Digital Brings 50 Megawatts Online at Ellendale Campus
Applied Digital Corp. has delivered the first 50 megawatts of power capacity to the Polaris Forge 1 AI Factory campus in Ellendale, marking a major step in a project tied to CoreWeave. The milestone matters to Stutsman County because it signals large scale investment in local infrastructure, potential economic benefits for Montana Dakota Utilities customers, and a new center of AI and high performance computing activity in the region.
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Ellendale, North Dakota Published November 10, 2025 — Applied Digital Corp. has turned over the first 50 megawatts of capacity at its Polaris Forge 1 AI Factory campus in Ellendale, advancing a buildout intended to supply CoreWeave with high intensity computing power. The delivered capacity represents half of the first building's eventual immediate capability, and is the latest development in a project that the company and its customer describe as integral to expanding AI infrastructure in the Northern Plains.
The campus first building houses four large data halls, each sized for high density, liquid cooled racks and designed to handle about 25 megawatts of load. When that building is fully online it is expected to reach roughly 100 megawatts of capacity. Applied Digital already operates a data center north of Jamestown, but Polaris Forge 1 is the companys larger Ellendale campus and is planned for further expansion beyond the initial building.
Local officials and utility planners have highlighted several factors that make North Dakota attractive for AI and high performance computing projects. The cold climate helps with equipment cooling efficiency, the state offers available grid capacity in parts of the region, and relatively low electricity costs improve project economics. Those factors contributed to the selection of Ellendale for Polaris Forge 1 and underpin the broader trend of data center investment moving to inland, lower cost energy markets.
For Stutsman County residents and Montana Dakota Utilities customers the project brings several direct implications. Utility revenue sharing and transmission arrangements tied to large customers can produce community benefits, and the company has noted transmission and revenue sharing effects for MDU customers as part of the campus economics. The initial capacity delivery also triggers short term construction activity and creates the potential for longer term operations and maintenance jobs at the site, along with broader tax base growth.
From a market perspective the arrival of 50 megawatts of AI computing capacity in Ellendale signals increased local demand for electricity and for grid planning coordination. Larger deployments of high density, liquid cooled compute require utility upgrades and careful transmission planning to avoid bottlenecks. State and local policymakers will need to balance the economic benefits of new investment with management of grid reliability and rate impacts.
As Polaris Forge 1 progresses toward the first building reaching full 100 megawatt output and as Applied Digital pursues planned campus expansions, Stutsman County will be closely watching the project for continued job activity, tax revenue, and impacts on local electric service arrangements. The initial delivery marks a concrete milestone in a project that could reshape the countys role in the regional technology infrastructure landscape.
