Applied Digital said on Monday it has entered into two 15-year leases with CoreWeave, a specialized cloud services provider backed by Nvidia, which will generate about $7 billion in revenue for the data center operator over the lease period.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
The deal could prove to be a major lifeline for Applied Digital, which has been facing challenges in the data center hosting sector as it transitions into a data center real estate investment trust.
The company’s shares surged by 17% in premarket trading following the lease announcement.
KEY QUOTES
“These leases solidify Applied Digital’s position as an emerging provider of infrastructure critical to the next generation of artificial intelligence and high-performance computing,” CEO of Applied Digital, Wes Cummins, said in a statement.
“Through these newly signed long-term leases with CoreWeave, we are taking a step forward in our strategic expansion into advanced compute infrastructure.”
CONTEXT
The emergence of new cloud service providers, known as “neoclouds” like CoreWeave, focuses on renting Nvidia’s highly sought-after chips to software developers.
Leasing data center infrastructure from companies like Applied Digital helps reduce some of the financial burden of providing AI-centric cloud services.
CoreWeave’s shares were up close to 4%.
(Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
