Applied Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:APLD) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

We’re seeing other options that are more low double-digit kind of low-teens financing. It’s specialized specifically for this market, seeing those anywhere from 50% to 90% LTVs, and the payback schedule is much less aggressive, I would say on those, maybe four-year to five-year type terms. We haven’t used to that yet, but it’s an option out there for us. But we were seeing quite a few different financing options. Then, some, like I said, fairly attractive rates.

Lucas Pipes: I really appreciate that detail. That’s very helpful. For my second question, I wanted to touch on the guidance. Very helpful, thank you. I appreciate the detail. I wondered if you could maybe share the breakdown of BTC hosting and AI and HPC respectively that would be embedded in that calendar year – sorry, fiscal year guidance. Thank you.

Wes Cummins: Yes. I actually, I don’t have that – I don’t think we plan to share that, Lucas. But, we will in the future as that ramps up.

Lucas Pipes: All right. I appreciate it. Thanks again and continued best of luck.

Wes Cummins: Great. Thanks.

Operator: Thank you. The next question is coming from John Todaro of Needham & Co. Please go ahead.

John Todaro: Great. Thanks for taking my question and congrats on the guide here. How many megawatts do you envision you’re going to need to fulfill the $180 million that initial contract with Character A.I. and then the second one with that other AI provider? And then on that the third-party colo capacity you’re using, is it already secured, and for how much of those contracts is that are you secured for?

Wes Cummins: Yes. So, the – what I mentioned in the script, I believe, was that for the 26,000 GPUs between our own facilities and the third-party colo that we have secured, so, we have space for all of those. And just for reference, John, so the first – so I’ll just say that the 5,000 GPUs takes about 7.5 megawatts of IT capacity. So, depending on which type of colo and what the PUE is in that colo, you know, you can multiply into what the full amount of power you need. But for IT capacity, it will take 7.5 megawatts for the 5,000 – or for 5,000 GPUs.

John Todaro: Got it. And then, as we think about the margin profile over time, how would it change when you’re using a third-party colo provider versus your own site such as the 9-megawatts at the Jamestown?

Wes Cummins: Yes. Sure. So, we have a slide that we actually use at your conference that breaks down the three businesses, and the margin, you know, we expect an op margin or an EBIT margin for the cloud piece of approximately 40%, and that is in third-party colo. And so when you think about it in our own facility, what you should think about is stacking our HPC margins, so, we outlined, plus the AI cloud margin.

John Todaro: Okay. That’s helpful. Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it.

Wes Cummins: Yes.

Operator: Thank you. The next question is coming from Mike Grondahl of Northland Securities. Please go ahead.

Mike Grondahl: Hi, guys. First question, just, you guys mentioned that the first customer the original $180 million is you’re working towards and they signed an option for a second $180 million. Could you explain that second $180 million a little more? Does that sort of point to year three and four or does that point to a two-year contract starting nearer term and not really the terms?

Wes Cummins: Yes, no, it’s not extending the term, it’s pointing to additional GPUs. So, the doubling of the number of GPUs.