Applied Digital Stock Surges 31% on Major Cloud Deal and AI Spending Boom

Shares of Applied Digital (APLD) skyrocketed 31% Thursday after securing an $11 billion compute power lease expansion with a major cloud provider. The deal, which maxes out capacity at its Ellendale facility, comes as tech giants Meta and Microsoft report aggressive AI infrastructure spending.

Analyst Greg Miller maintained a buy rating with a $16 price target, citing the company's strategic pivot from Bitcoin mining to AI cloud services. Meta's capex nearly doubled year-over-year while Microsoft plans to boost quarterly infrastructure investment to $30 billion - 60% above expectations.

The rally defied broader market weakness, with major indices dipping slightly. While near-term prospects appear strong, questions remain about Applied Digital's ability to compete long-term against deep-pocketed tech titans scaling their own AI infrastructure.