Applied Digital Carries $2.5 Billion of an Alabama AI Factory for a Tenant It Won't Name

The split, said aloud to a half-empty hall

Brookwood, a town of roughly 2,500 people ², set out 300 chairs for Applied Digital's first town hall on 1 October↗. Half stayed empty ¹. From the stage, external affairs chief Nick Phillips said aloud what no filing yet carries: of the $3.2 billion Delta Forge 2 campus, the unnamed tenant pays roughly $800 million and Applied Digital just under $2.5 billion ¹. "We are experts in data centers. But we are not yet experts in Brookwood," he said ¹.

The county's money, and the company's

A week earlier, on 24 September, the Tuscaloosa County Economic Development Authority voted unanimously for about $314.5 million in tax abatements↗ and a separate $270 million community benefit agreement, $13.5 million a year for 20 years ³⁴. County and company projections put roughly $440 million back over two decades, $131.5 million of it school taxes the state will not allow to be abated, against a construction payroll peaking above 1,000 workers and just over 100 permanent jobs ³⁴.

Phillips promised residents 12 to 16 months of construction ¹; the approved agreement says completion by the end of 2028 ⁴.

One customer, three campuses, no name

The lease beneath those abatements was signed on 8 June↗: 210 megawatts, 15 years, take-or-pay, about $5.2 billion in base rent, $12.7 billion if every renewal is exercised ⁵. It is the company's third lease with the same "U.S. based high investment-grade hyperscaler" ⁵, and the county announcement lists Kayvens LLC as long-term tenant ⁴. Five campuses now carry about $36 billion of contracted base rent, roughly 70% of it backed by such unnamed hyperscalers ⁵⁶.

The Inference traced 56% of that book to a single customer on 1 October. Until a second tenant signs, the Brookwood abatement record is the first outside document that lets an investor price that concentration. No document reviewed for this story names the customer.

Shareholders carry the build

In the quarter ended May, capex ran $1.29 billion against $259 million of revenue, of which steady rent was just $50.6 million ⁸¹¹. The machine runs on debt and patience: $1.59 billion of 7% senior secured notes due 2031↗, priced in June against a single Polaris Forge 1 building, and a revolver of up to $550 million ⁶⁷. Tenant fit-out checks, Brookwood's $800 million among them, land in lumps ¹⁸.

What the county got for it

TCEDA's own account of the deal↗: no public money paid to the developer, no rebates, no refunds ⁴. What the county gives is tax it forgoes, written over the 160-acre campus alone of the 1,283 acres Applied Digital bought, over 20 years rather than the 30 Alabama allows ⁴. Brookwood's payments, the first community benefits any Alabama data center has owed, begin only when the campus enters service ⁴.

Wells Fargo values the signed contracts near $30 a share, above a stock that has roughly halved from its $50.72 high ⁸; Zacks cut APLD to strong sell on 26 August ¹⁰. Both camps are pricing the same missing name.

7 October is the test

Results land Wednesday after the close, call at 5 p.m. Eastern ¹⁰. Consensus sits near a 30-cent loss↗ on $116 million to $135 million of revenue, roughly half the prior quarter's $258.7 million, because fit-out money does not repeat ⁸⁹¹⁰. Polaris Forge 1 just crossed 250 megawatts running, of 400 contracted ¹².

The tell will be the two expansion leases, 100 and 150 megawatts, that chief executive Wes Cummins said were in advanced talks, and any progress toward the $1 billion net operating income run rate ⁸. Everyone in Brookwood now knows the price of the building. Nobody knows who moves in.