Polaris Forge 2: $3B Harwood AI Factory Mega-Campus
Status: Under Construction / Active Infrastructure Installation (Status: May 2026) | Location: 900+ Acre Contiguous Master-Planned Site, Harwood, ND 58042
Project Overview
Moving rapidly through its heavy civil construction phase in May 2026, Polaris Forge 2 is Applied Digital’s massive $3 billion foundational AI factory development. Spanning over 900 acres of open industrial land near Fargo, the facility is being built specifically to house next-generation AI training and massive LLM inference workloads. In March 2026, Applied Digital successfully priced a massive $2.15 billion issuance of senior secured notes to fully lock in construction capital for the site's initial 200 MW build block. The entire phase 1 footprint is locked into an exclusive, 15-year take-or-pay lease agreement worth roughly $5 billion in base-term revenue with a premium, confidential U.S.-based investment-grade hyperscaler. Architecturally departing from old multi-tenant corporate data storage, the campus utilizes Applied Digital's proprietary waterless layout design. By deploying extensive direct-to-chip liquid cooling loops and advanced closed fluid systems, the multi-building campus eliminates traditional evaporative water waste entirely while packing massive energy loads safely into dense GPU rack configurations.
Quick Facts
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Project Name | Polaris Forge 2: $3B Harwood AI Factory Mega-Campus |
| Location | 900+ Acre Contiguous Master-Planned Site, Harwood, ND 58042 |
| Status | Under Construction / Active Infrastructure Installation (Status: May 2026) |
| Commissioning | Ground Broken: September 2025; Phase 1 Initial Capacity: Late 2026 / Early 2027 |
| Total IT Load | 200 MW (Phase 1 Initial Committed Hyperscale Lease) |
| Total Capacity | 1,000 MW (1 GW Ultimate Master Planned Grid Capacity Footprint) |
| Tier Level | Tier III+ (Ultra-High-Density Liquid-Cooled GPU Cluster Design) |
| Project Type | Purpose-Built Wholesale AI Factory & Deep Learning Supercomputing Hub |
City Profile
| Header | Details |
|---|
| City Name | Harwood |
| Population | 8,500 (approx.) |
| Urban Agglomeration | 9.4 million+ (Chicago Metropolitan Area) |
| City GDP | Part of the Chicago metro economy valued at over USD 800 billion |
| Per Capita Income | Part of the Chicago metro economy valued at over USD 800 billion |
| City Tier | Tier 3 City |
| Key Strengths | Proximity to Chicago, strong residential community, transportation access, retail presence, quality infrastructure |
Companies Involved
| Header | Details |
|---|
| Developer / Operator | APLD Compute 2 LLC |
| Strategic Infrastructure Partner | Macquarie Asset Management ($5 Billion Infrastructure Partnership) |
| Construction Contractor | Tier-1 Mission-Critical General Contractors & Heavy Civil Teams |
| MEP Engineering | Corgan / Syska Hennessy Group / HDR Engineering |
| Network Connectivity | Ultra-Low Latency Diverse Dark Fiber Ring Infrastructure (Direct Tier-1 Carrier Links) |
| Power Infrastructure | Cass County Electric Cooperative / Minnkota Power Cooperative |
Technical Specifications
| Header | Details |
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| Power Capacity | 280 MW Initial Utility Substation Block; Scalable to 1,000 MW |
| UPS Redundancy | Isolated Parallel Modular Battery Storage & Distributed Redundant Topologies |
| Cooling System | Proprietary Waterless Cooling Architecture with Integrated Direct-to-Chip Liquid Loops |
| Connectivity | Carrier-Neutral Core; Quadruple Diverse Entry Point Fiber Vaults |
| PUE Target | 1.18 |
| Energy Mix | Regional Grid Supply backed by Minnkota Power Hydro/Wind & Utility Solar PPAs |
Milestones
| Header | Details |
|---|
| Announcement | September 2025 |
| Construction Start | October 2025 |
| Phase 1 Go-Live | Late 2026 |
| Full Buildout | Early 2027 |
Investment Details
| Header | Details |
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| Total Investment | Estimated $3 Billion USD (Phased Capital Master Plan Budget) |
| Funding | $2.15 Billion Private Secured Note Offering (Closed March 2026) & Corporate Capital |