Applied Digital Polaris Forge 3 AI campus near Center
Also called: Polaris Forge 3, APLD BIS-01, LLC
An AI data center campus on farmland north of Center. The county approved it 2-1 in July 2026, with rules on noise, water and roads. It would need 430 MW of power and start running in 2027.
Where things stand: County approved the permit and rezoning 2-1 on July 7, 2026. The company says it is under construction.
🕒 Latest update (July 10, 2026): The county signed a road use agreement with the company.
What we know
- 📍 Wherefarmland about 1 mile east of Hannover and 5 miles north of Center, near ND Highways 25 and 31, Unincorporated Oliver County, Oliver County
- 🏢 CompanyAPLD BIS-01, LLC (Applied Digital)
- 🏛️ Owned byApplied Digital
- 👤 Built forAn unnamed large tech company ("hyperscaler")
- 🌳 Size600 acres
- ⚡ Power it needs430 megawatts (about as much as 344,000 homes)
- 🔌 Where the power comes fromMontana-Dakota Utilities, under a power deal that the state utility commission must approve.
- 💧 WaterCooling water trucked in at first; no water may be put into the aquifer (county condition)
- 💵 Cost$1 billion
- 👷 Jobs promised200
❓ Still unanswered
Nobody has answered these in public yet. Can you help find out?
- Did the company ever post the reclamation bond the county asked for? 🙋 I'll find out
- How much water will it use each day once running, and from where? 🙋 I'll find out
- How many backup diesel generators will it have? 🙋 I'll find out
What happened so far
- March 2026Oliver County passed a 180-day pause (moratorium) on data centers.
- April 30, 2026At a special meeting, the county commission lifted the moratorium.
- May 2026Applied Digital asked the county to rezone the land from farm to industrial.
- May 20, 2026Applied Digital signed a 15-year lease with a large tech company for 300 MW at Polaris Forge 3.
- June 22, 2026Montana-Dakota Utilities signed a power deal for the 430 MW campus.
- July 7, 2026County commissioners approved the building permit 2-1, which also rezoned the land to industrial, with conditions.
- July 10, 2026The county signed a road use agreement with the company.
Local votes and rules
✅ Approved
Commissioners voted 2-1 to approve Applied Digital's building permit north of Center, which also rezoned the farm land to industrial. Conditions include a noise study, generator tests only from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., cooling water brought from off site, and paying the cost of one extra sheriff's deputy.
📌 Other
At a special meeting, commissioners ended the county's 180-day data center pause early. A rezoning request for a data center was filed soon after.
⏸️ Pause on new data centers
The county paused data centers for 180 days in March 2026. (An advisory board had first suggested three years.) Commissioners ended the pause early at a special meeting on April 30, 2026.
An aerial photo of the area.
Where this comes from
- Applied Digital approved building permit for data center development · Central Nordak Publishing (Center Republican) · July 16, 2026
- Applied Digital expands in North Dakota, eyes Oliver County for third data center · Valley News Live · July 13, 2026
- Montana-Dakota Utilities Announces Electric Service Agreement with Applied Digital for Proposed AI Factory · MDU Resources (press release) · June 22, 2026
- Applied Digital submits rezoning application for data center in Oliver County · KFYR-TV · May 4, 2026
- "We are being sold down the river," Oliver County removes roadblock for data center · KX News · May 2026
- Applied Digital: $7.5 Billion Hyperscaler Lease Pushes Contracted AI Capacity Above 1 GW · Pulse 2.0 · May 25, 2026
- Applied Digital Reports Fiscal First Quarter 2027 Results · Applied Digital · Oct 7, 2026
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