Applied Digital and TeraWulf compete for AI data center market

Applied Digital and TeraWulf are emerging as prominent neocloud players, competing to meet the rising demand for AI data center capacity from hyperscalers. Both companies lease compute capacity to major technology firms through long-term contracts.

Applied Digital has secured 1.4 gigawatts of contracted critical IT load, estimated to represent approximately $36 billion in total contracted lease revenue. The company also maintains an active pipeline of 3 gigawatts for future projects.

TeraWulf holds 923 megawatts of contracted critical IT load, with the client Anthropic accounting for nearly half of that total. Unlike Applied Digital, which relies on utility electricity supply agreements, TeraWulf utilizes a strategy of developing on-site power generation assets to mitigate grid dependency and control energy costs.