Applied Digital: Polaris Forge 2 data center, Harwood, North Dakota

Applied Digital's Polaris Forge 2, a $3 billion, 280-megawatt AI data center between Fargo and Harwood in Cass County, North Dakota, was nearing completion in September 2026, with about 1,800 workers finishing two buildings of 907,000 square feet each. The facility is leased to Oracle; Applied Digital first announced the lease without naming the tenant in October 2025, and Valley News Live reported the Oracle name in March 2026. The Harwood City Council, meeting in a city hall that held 40 people, voted unanimously and without discussion to rezone the land on September 10, 2025, refusing to take public comment or postpone to its regular October meeting.

Mayor Blake Hankey, attending by video from Portugal, said, "Our decision isn't going to change," and Harwood resident Michael Swartz said of the council, "They're acting like good little lap dogs right now." Crews broke ground five days later. Fargo then tried to annex about 300 acres including the site, a fight that ended in December 2025 when the Fargo City Commission unanimously withdrew after Mayor Tim Mahoney raised who would maintain roads and supply water, electricity and emergency response.

Cass County Electric Cooperative president Paul Matthys said the data center would roughly double the co-op's peak demand but would not raise rates for existing customers; Applied Digital is paying for the Agassiz substation and transmission line, which it put at $112 million in September 2026. At a February 2026 meeting, resident Michael Swartz said residents still felt left in the dark, and Hankey replied, "I think we followed every ordinance and law and everything we needed to follow."

As of February 2026, city officials could not accurately project the tax revenue the center would bring, though Applied Digital says it expects to be the largest single taxpayer in the state by 2029. The Harwood City Council, led by Hankey, is the body that approved the rezoning and continues to oversee the project as construction finishes.