Applied Digital asks Oracle, Meta for multi-billion-dollar guarantees before signing AI data center leases

Bloomberg reports that Applied Digital has demanded multi-billion-dollar parent guarantees from investment-grade tenants like Oracle and Meta since at least last year before finalizing leases, and is also seeking case-by-case guarantees from Nvidia and AMD to support utility interconnections. President Jason Zhang said 'with most new sites, you have to build the power and transmission lines yourself,' and CEO Wes Cummins said the company is targeting a 70/30 investment-grade to non-investment-grade tenant mix. The practice flips the usual power-procurement risk model: hyperscalers chasing AI capacity are now on the hook for the grid itself.