Applied Digital’s $15M Corintis Investment Intensifies AI Power Competition
Applied Digital’s $15 million lead investment in Corintis and partnership with Babcock & Wilcox to speed on-site power generation addresses AI data center power and cooling constraints, intensifying competition for Vertiv’s power delivery and backup systems. These moves could pressure Vertiv’s market share in high-density AI infrastructure deployments.
1. APLD's Power Generation Initiative
Applied Digital has teamed with Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises to deploy proven steam turbine technology for new natural gas–fired plants, aiming to shorten power delivery timelines that currently stretch into the early 2030s. Faster on-site generation could enable APLD to accelerate lease commencements and improve contracted-megawatt utilization across its Polaris campuses.
2. Corintis Cooling Investment
APLD led a $15 million funding round for Corintis to develop micro-channeled cold plate systems that handle rising thermal intensity in next-generation GPUs. If successful, the technology could boost per-building compute density and monetizable megawatts, tightening the thermal efficiency gap with vendors like Vertiv.
3. Implications for Vertiv
Vertiv’s power delivery and backup systems currently support high-density AI deployments, but APLD’s direct ownership of generation and advanced cooling could erode Vertiv’s equipment sales model. Increased competition may pressure Vertiv’s sales growth and utilization rates in the fast-growing AI data center market.