Applied Digital (NASDAQ: APLD) holds contracts worth $36 billion, according to a market commentary that also highlights Wolfspeed (NYSE: WOLF).
Applied Digital (NASDAQ: APLD) constructs AI data centers while Wolfspeed (NYSE: WOLF) manufactures the power semiconductors that run inside them, yet the market is treating each company very differently.
Applied Digital is down 15.8% year to date while Wolfspeed has surged 61.7%, a divergence that reflects how investors are weighing execution risk against turnaround momentum in the AI infrastructure boom.
Applied Digital operates two core business lines: HPC Hosting, which rents AI factory space to hyperscalers including CoreWeave (NASDAQ: CRWV), and Data Center Hosting, which serves crypto miners across 286 megawatts of capacity in North Dakota.
As of August 31, 2026, the company reported approximately 1.41 gigawatts of IT capacity reserved for servers across five campuses, supporting approximately $36 billion in contracted revenue under 15-year lease agreements.
Fiscal Q1 2027 revenue came in at $341.88 million, far exceeding the $124.57 million analyst estimate, though $183.5 million of that total came from one-time tenant fit-out work rather than recurring operations.
CEO Wes Cummins argued that "every new restriction elsewhere" makes his facilities harder to replicate, framing the company's position as increasingly defensible in a tightening regulatory environment.
Despite that revenue beat, Applied Digital remains unprofitable, carrying trailing-12-month earnings per share of minus $1.65, approximately $6.4 billion in debt, and capital spending of $2.07 billion in a single quarter.
Wolfspeed's business centers on silicon carbide, a semiconductor material capable of handling higher voltages and heat than standard silicon while wasting less energy during power conversion in electric vehicles, data centers, and solar systems.
The company's Power Products segment generated $106.3 million in fiscal Q4, while its Materials Products division, which sells raw wafers, fell to $43.3 million from $78.4 million as the company transitions toward larger 200 mm wafers designed to lower unit production costs.
Wolfspeed emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2025 and adopted fresh-start accounting, meaning its widely cited year-to-date gain is measured from a post-emergence price floor rather than a pre-bankruptcy high.
AI data center revenue more than doubled for Wolfspeed in fiscal 2026, though non-GAAP gross margin remained deeply negative at minus 19.9%, and management has placed gross-margin breakeven near an "800 million annual run rate," well above current sales levels.
The two companies face fundamentally different risk profiles: Applied Digital must convert its massive contracted backlog into live capacity while managing construction financing, whereas Wolfspeed must fill its Mohawk Valley fab through new design wins and customer qualifications.
Applied Digital's most immediate test is whether it can bring over 600 megawatts into service within 12 months while securing affordable financing for the Polaris Forge 3 and Delta Forge 1 and 2 projects.
For Wolfspeed, the critical question is whether 800-volt data center designs and 200 mm wafer qualifications can drive enough volume to push the company toward profitability, with fiscal Q1 guidance set at $140 million to $160 million in revenue.
Both companies remain cash-consuming operations at different stages of maturity, and investors in either name should expect at least another quarter of results before the picture becomes meaningfully clearer.