North Dakota

Applied Digital plans to expand in Ellendale, ND

Published

11 months ago

March 21, 2025

Applied Digital plans to expand in Ellendale, ND

ELLENDALE, N.D. — Applied Digital Corp. plans to expand its footprint in Ellendale, North Dakota, according to Nick Phillips, executive vice president of public affairs and real estate acquisitions for the company.

Applied Digital completed a blockchain facility in Ellendale in 2023, and its current 380,000-square-foot, high-performance computing facility is expected to begin operations later this year. That will be followed by two additional 900,000-square-foot expansions, Phillips said.

Gov. Kelly Armstrong, center, stands with a group for a photo opportunity in front of a large water cooling system inside the Applied Digital facility in Ellendale.

John M. Steiner / The Jamestown Sun

“The first building that’s going up right now is about a $1.3 billion investment for us, and we’re anticipating another $4 billion,” he said. “That’s our investment for the buildings, the transformers, the chillers, all of the mechanical equipment. We anticipate our customer will invest approximately another $15 billion, so this is about a $20 billion total capital investment on our 320-acre site.”

Applied Digital hosted Gov. Kelly Armstrong and officials from the state, the City of Ellendale and Dickey County on Wednesday, March 19, to learn about the company’s operations in North Dakota. The event included a tour of Applied Digital’s data center, which is currently under construction, and Ellendale Acres.

ellendale applied digital housing area 031925.jpg — Ellendale Acres is a new housing community in Ellendale, North Dakota, that was developed with a partnership between Applied Digital, the city of Ellendale, state of North Dakota and Headwaters Development. Ellendale Acres includes 20 homes and a 38-unit apartment complex.

Ellendale Acres is a housing community that was developed with a partnership between Applied Digital, the City of Ellendale, the state of North Dakota and Headwaters Development to build 20 homes and a 38-unit apartment complex.

Armstrong also signed House Bill 1539 at the event in Ellendale. With the signing of HB 1539, on-site backup electric generation that exceeds 50 megawatts and is not connected to the power grid will no longer be subject to the North Dakota Public Service Commission’s Siting Act, according to a news release from the Office of the Governor. The change in law takes effect Aug. 1.

ellendale applied digital governor signing a bill 031925.jpg — Gov. Kelly Armstrong, front and center, signs House Bill 1539 into law. Also pictured, front from left, are Nick Phillips, executive vice president of public affairs and real estate acquisitions for Applied Digital Corp. and North Dakota Commerce Commissioner Curtis Schilken; and back from left, Dicky County Commission Chairman Brandon Carlson, Ellendale Mayor Don Flaherty and Don Morgan, president, Bank of North Dakota.

“This will allow data centers and other businesses to add on-site backup generation more easily with local approval while still complying with environmental protections,” the news release says. “In testimony on the bill, Applied Digital, which also has a facility in Jamestown, said backup power generation will protect workers and equipment from unintentional harm caused by unexpected disconnection from the power grid and will allow the data center’s large load to operate off-grid in emergency situations, improving the reliability of the grid for other customers and the grid’s operators.”

Applied Digital designs, develops and operates next-generation data centers across North America to provide digital infrastructure solutions to the high-performance computing industry, Phillips said.

In North Dakota, Applied Digital has blockchain sites that support cryptocurrency mining about 7 miles north of Jamestown and 1 mile west of Ellendale.

ellendale applied digital governor visiting with mayor 031925.jpg — Gov. Kelly Armstrong visits with the Ellendale mayor in the Opera House in Ellendale.

Armstrong told The Jamestown Sun that Applied Digital’s project in Ellendale can happen in North Dakota because of the state’s great fiber buildout, business environment and energy.

“When you have a town like Ellendale in this area of rural North Dakota that has really been struggling just to stay alive for the last 20 years, it’s a tremendous opportunity not just for this community but for the economy of south-central North Dakota,” he said.

Ellendale Mayor Don Flaherty said Applied Digital gives the City of Ellendale an ability to move forward and do things for the community that weren’t possible five to 10 years ago.

ellendale applied digital mayor talking 031925.jpg — Ellendale Mayor Don Flaherty talks about the partnership between the city of Ellendale and Applied Digital.

“Now I can stand in front of you today and I can say with the things that are happening right now, I see Ellendale being a shining light in this area of North Dakota well into the 22nd century because of the things that we’re going to do and the strength that we’re going to bring back to our community because of this,” he said.

Phillips said Applied Digital expects to be a top 10 property taxpayer in the state in the next year or two.

Ellendale Acres partnership

Applied Digital expects to employ 350 full-time employees at the Ellendale site, and those people will need places to live in the community, Phillips said.

“In terms of local infrastructure, one of the things that we’ve needed to do is we’re trying to convince folks to move here, to live here in Ellendale, and that’s very important for us,” he said.

ellendale applied digital nick talking 031925.jpg — Nick Phillips, executive vice president of public affairs and real estate acquisitions for Applied Digital, talks about the need for housing in Ellendale, North Dakota.

Currently, about 450 workers are in Ellendale for construction of the 380,000-square-foot, high-performance computing artificial intelligence data center, Phillips said.

“I’m told that number (of workers) is going to go up drastically as the next two buildings get farther underway,” he said.

Flaherty said Ellendale’s peak population was either 1,800 in the late 1950s or early ’60s or 1,500 in 2000, depending on what artificial intelligence Google search engine was used. Ellendale’s current population is over 1,100, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Flaherty said Applied Digital coming to Ellendale is the “first domino to fall.” As a result, he said more people will want to do business in Ellendale.

ellendale applied digital extra speaker one 031925.jpg — Ryan Sailer, president of Headwaters Development, talks about bringing housing to Ellendale, North Dakota.

“We’re going to have spouses of people who are going to work at the data center who are going to say, ‘Hey, I want to start this kind of business,’ or ‘I’ve had this kind of experience and I want to bring that to here,’ ” he said.

To help the Ellendale community, Applied Digital partnered with Headwaters Development and the Bank of North Dakota to build 20 new homes — eight four-bedroom and 12 two-bedroom — and a 38-unit apartment complex utilizing the state’s Rural-Workforce Initiative to Support Housing (R-WISH) pilot program. The housing development is called Ellendale Acres and is located in south Ellendale.

The R-WISH pilot program utilizes up to $10 million of Bank of North Dakota capital to complement the work done by the North Dakota Housing Finance Agency and the North Dakota Housing Initiative Advisory Committee, according to Bank of North Dakota’s website. The maximum amount from the R-WISH fund is the lesser of 30% of the project costs, $3.5 million or the matching contribution from the company.

Applied Digital contributed $3.5 million toward the program to build housing in Ellendale. Headwaters Development will own the homes and apartment complex and rent them to Applied Digital employees.

ellendale applied digital housing workers 031925.jpg — Construction workers nail down some sheathing to a garage roof on one of the many new houses going up in Ellendale, North Dakota.

Armstrong said Applied Digital’s project and helping with Ellendale’s housing challenge is a holistic view of economic development. He said a local community and its elected officials need to promote and welcome business.

“You need a company that wants to be there,” he said. “You get private equity and then you get the Bank of North Dakota to step in. It really is kind of an all-above approach. They (Applied Digital) can’t build that facility if anybody who works there has nowhere to live. So they’ve engaged in the community in a really meaningful way. I think it’s a model for how you would do a large-scale project in a place like Ellendale.”

Ryan Sailer, president of Headwaters Development, said Ellendale Acres is a big accomplishment that had great collaboration to make it happen. He talked about the challenges and hurdles to bring housing to rural communities.

He said construction costs have increased for housing in rural communities. He also said it’s difficult for rural communities to get contractors and subcontractors to build housing the magnitude of Ellendale Acres.

He said the rental prices are lower in rural areas compared to urban areas, which caps the mortgages.

“As developers, we’re bringing in more equity which often isn’t sustainable because we have investors that require a certain risk-adjusted rate of return, and they’re not willing to take the risk,” he said.

He said if employers want to expand or a city wants to bring in employers, housing is needed for their employees.

“You almost have to come up with a combined solution to figure out how to do it somewhat all at once, to make it sustainable and viable,” he said.

Armstrong said Senate Bill 2225, which establishes the Housing for Opportunity, Mobility and Empowerment (HOME) grant program in the North Dakota Department of Commerce, is a complementary program to the R-WISH pilot program.

“Not every community that has a housing need has an Applied Digital coming in,” he said. “The R-Wish program only works because Applied Digital has bought in, the financing guys, Headwaters has bought in, and the bank (Bank of North Dakota) has bought in. There are places across North Dakota whether it’s Richardton or Hillsboro and between that also need housing that don’t have something like this (Applied Digital) at scale.”

If SB 2225 is approved, the Commerce Department would award grants to political subdivisions to build infrastructure to support affordable market-rate housing. The grant program would be funded one time and ends on June 30, 2027.

SB 2225 would appropriate $50 million to the program. The Commerce Department would allocate $10 million for communities with a population of 5,000 or less, $20 million for communities with a population of 5,001 to 20,000 and $5 million for rural metropolitan areas located within 20 miles of city limits of a community with more than 20,000 people.

The program provides grant dollars for one-third of the infrastructure costs for residential development projects. The local political subdivision and the developer of the residential lots would each provide one-third of the costs for residential development projects.

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North Dakota

North Dakota State football to join Mountain West in 2026, per report

Published

10 hours ago

February 9, 2026

Press Room

North Dakota State football to join Mountain West in 2026, per report

North Dakota State is moving up in the college football world.

According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, the Bison have agreed to a deal to join the Mountain West Conference, in football only, for the 2026 season. The school is expected to pay nearly $12 million to join the league, and will pay the NCAA another $5 million to the NCAA to move from the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) to the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).

Thamel reported the deal is expected to be announced on Monday, Feb. 9. With NDSU moving to the MWC in 2026, that’ll bring the league’s total to 10 teams.

The Bison have won 10 of the last 15 FCS football championships and were the No. 1 seed in the 2025 FCS playoffs before losing to fellow Missouri Valley Football Conference team Illinois State in the first round. The Redbirds advanced all the way to the 2026 FCS Championship game where they fell 35-34 in overtime to Montana State.

Of note: NCAA bylaws prohibit teams making the jump from FCS to FBS from competing in bowl games or conference championships for two years. That’s why James Madison teams that went 8-3 in 2022 and 11-2 in 2023 were ineligible to compete for the Sun Belt Championship or bowl games, as they were in their first two years competing in the FBS.

There are exceptions to the rule: James Madison and another FCS-to-FBS program, Jacksonville State, both became bowl-eligible in 2023 after it was determined there were not enough teams eligible for bowl season that year.

The addition of North Dakota State to the conference aids a league that lost Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State to the Pac-12 in the latest round of NCAA realignment.

Despite the mass departures, Air Force, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, UNLV and Wyoming all opted to stay in the conference. Hawaii is joining the league as a full-time member, while UTEP will join as a full member during the summer. Northern Illinois and NDSU joining as football-only members will bring the total to 10 teams.

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North Dakota

North Dakota State to join Mountain West in 2026 for football: Sources

Published

22 hours ago

February 8, 2026

Press Room

North Dakota State to join Mountain West in 2026 for football: Sources

North Dakota State will join the Mountain West Conference and move up to the Football Bowl Subdivision for the 2026 football season, sources briefed on the decision confirmed to The Athletic.

NDSU has been a powerhouse in the Football Championship Subdivision, winning 10 national championships since 2011, including the 2024 title. ESPN first reported the deal had been finalized.

As part of the move up, NDSU is expected to pay over $10 million to join the Mountain West, in addition to a $5 million NCAA fee to move from FCS to FBS, which will now grow to 137 members. The Bison are currently in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, with most other sports competing in the Summit League.

NDSU has long considered moving up to the Football Bowl Subdivision, especially as longtime FCS rivals like Appalachian State, James Madison and Sam Houston transitioned to FBS over the years. However, NDSU’s location had always made the move a more difficult fit for FBS conferences. That changed with the Mountain West’s upcoming realignment.

The Mountain West is set to split this summer, with Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State moving to the rebuilt Pac-12. In response, the MW is adding UTEP as a full member and Northern Illinois as a football-only member, along with non-football members in Grand Canyon and UC Davis. The Mountain West and Pac-12 remain involved in a legal dispute over $150 million in exit and poaching fees owed to the MW.

The league’s remaining members include Air Force, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, San Jose State, UNLV and Wyoming. The addition of NDSU will give the Mountain West 10 football members.

NDSU football is 9-5 against FBS opponents since moving up to FCS in 2004, including wins against Iowa, Iowa State and Minnesota twice. In 2016, the Bison received enough votes in the AP Top 25 to finish two spots out of the top 25, the highest an FCS program ever sat in the poll, which typically only features FBS teams.

The Bison had an FCS-record 39-game winning streak from 2017 to spring 2021, breaking their previous 33-game record from 2012 to ’14. Thirteen Bison players have been selected in the NFL Draft since 2014.

Coached by Tim Polasek for the past two seasons, the Bison won the 2024 FCS championship and started the 2025 season 12-0, before an upset loss to Illinois State in the playoffs.

Leaving FCS will leave behind local rivalries with schools like South Dakota State and North Dakota, likely along with the ability to claim national championships. But NDSU has considered the move in part because some fans are bored with so many FCS blowout wins and seek a deeper challenge. They saw recent FCS member James Madison reach the College Football Playoff this year. The Group of 6 conferences are guaranteed at least one spot in the College Football Playoff for the next six years.

NDSU hasn’t competed in an FBS conference before, but recent history suggests that NDSU is likely to compete for the league title, similar to how App State and JMU did in the Sun Belt after moving up.

The Bison will be ineligible for a bowl game for the next two seasons, per NCAA transition rules unless there aren’t enough bowl-eligible teams to fill the available slots. The Mountain West may choose not to make NDSU eligible for the conference championship game. JMU won the Sun Belt East Division in 2022 but did not play in the league title game or a bowl.

The Mountain West completed its new TV deal on Tuesday, which spans from fall 2026 to summer 2032 with Fox Sports, CBS Sports and The CW.

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North Dakota

Major penalty dooms UMD in loss to North Dakota

Published

1 day ago

February 8, 2026

Press Room

Major penalty dooms UMD in loss to North Dakota

DULUTH — North Dakota scored on its power play chances Saturday, and Minnesota Duluth did not.

The result was a 4-1 victory for the No. 3-ranked Fighting Hawks over the No. 10 Bulldogs in NCHC play at Amsoil Arena.

Sophomore wing Mac Swanson, freshman wing Will Zellers and senior wing Dylan James scored for the Hawks, all in the third period. James scored two breakaway goals to clinch the win, putting his second into an empty net.

Sophomore center Zam Plante was credited with the Bulldogs’ lone goal after a shot by his younger brother and linemate, wing Max Plante, went in off the elder Plante’s skate with 7:58 to play, pulling UMD within a goal before James answered.

Freshman goaltender Jan Spunar made 25 saves for North Dakota while Bulldogs sophomore Ethan Dahlmeir finished with 24 saves.

“That’s playoff hockey, that’s how tight it is going to be,” said Bulldogs senior defenseman and captain Joey Pierce about how UMD’s series with North Dakota felt. “That’s how small the margin is — one little shift, one little decision. That’s something we need to learn from and think about. Everyone has to realize every decision they’re making matters. I think we do that at times, but we have to be able to do that all the time.”

Minnesota Duluth forward Kyler Kovich (38) rests during a media timeout against North Dakota on Saturday at Amsoil Arena in Duluth.

Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group

North Dakota took command on a five-minute power play in the third period to break open a scoreless game. Zellers and Swanson both scored while UMD senior center Kyle Kovich sat for five minutes in the penalty box for boarding.

The Hawks finished the game 2-for-5 on the power play, going 2-for-3 on the Kovich major that came 3:37 into the third period.

“We took a bad penalty in the third period and it cost us the game,” Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin said. “That’s all that needs to be said.

“We’re in a tight game. It was back and forth, 0-0. Going into the third period we had a chance to win a game. We take a penalty. Good teams, like they usually do, capitalize. I would hope we do the same thing. It’s the difference in the game.”

The Bulldogs went 0-for-3 on the power play in the first period,

just as they did Friday night in the 3-2 overtime win.

North Dakota took three penalties in less than four minutes in the first period, giving UMD a 5-on-3 advantage for 46 seconds at one point.

college men play ice hockey — Minnesota Duluth forward Scout Truman (24) skates against North Dakota forward Cade Littler (20) on Saturday at Amsoil Arena in Duluth.

UMD had the best power play in the NCAA coming into the weekend at 32.3%, but dropped to second behind Minnesota after Friday’s results — the Gophers entered Saturday 32.5% — as UND held UMD to 1-for-5 on Friday.

North Dakota took a fourth penalty to close the first period, giving UMD a power play to start the second period. UMD didn’t convert on that one, either, and finished the game 0-for-4 after not getting another power play Saturday.

UMD put seven shots on Spunar on four power plays that spanned 7:14, but Max Plante said he didn’t feel good about how the power play performed.

“We’re having chances, the power play should have chances, but we’ve got to capitalize on them,” Max Plante said. “I don’t know what needs to change. Maybe move the puck faster. Myself, I need to make smarter plays. It just needs to be better.”

North Dakota had a goal overturned by a UMD challenge early in the second period. The Bulldogs successfully challenged for offside, wiping out what would have been the first goal of the season for Hawks sophomore defenseman Jayden Jubenvill.

There were three video reviews Saturday. The first two — the offside challenge by UMD and a North Dakota challenge for a missed major penalty — both went in the Bulldogs’ direction. The referees initiated the third review, which was of Kovich’s hit in the North Dakota zone, ruling it was worthy of a major penalty.

Why did Sandelin not challenge a hit from behind on Luke Bibby in the third period? The Bulldogs freshman wing was hit from behind into the wall with UMD down 2-1. The hit looked similar to what landed Kovich in the penalty box for five minutes.

Sandelin had a conversation with the referees, and then decided not the challenge the hit.

“They came over and told me it was a dive,” Sandelin said. “I said, ‘Well then why don’t you call the penalty on us?’”

Sandelin didn’t blame the referees for the loss. He blamed his team’s lack of discipline, something they discussed after the second period ended with a scrum that had UMD junior defenseman Brady Cleveland and North Dakota sophomore wing Cody Croal starting the third in the penalty box.

The coach felt the momentum of Saturday’s game was swinging in their favor, that North Dakota was getting frustrated. Then Kovich took a major penalty.

“We did it to ourselves. We put ourselves in a bad position and can’t do that,” Sandelin said. “We talked about it in between periods. Stay disciplined. You know what? Every time we talk about it, we do something dumb. It’s unbelievable, so I don’t know if I should stop talking about it?”

Dahlmeir suffered his first loss in the UMD net Saturday. The Bulldogs backup is filling in for starter Adam Gajan, who is with Slovakia at the 2026 Olympics in Italy. Dahlmeir, a transfer from Miami, started his UMD career 3-0, including a win Friday in goal against North Dakota. He’s now 4-11-1 as the goalie of record in his college career.

The Hawks leave Duluth battered and bruised. UND was without one half of its top defensive pairing Saturday — senior Bennet Zmolek — because of an undisclosed injury.

Freshman center Cole Reschny left the game in the second period with a lower-body injury after getting slashed by Cleveland on a breakaway. He and Cleveland got tied up and crashed hard into the end wall together.

Reschny had to be helped off the ice, unable to put weight on his left leg.

The Bulldogs got their first sellout of 2025-26 on Saturday, with an announced crowd of 6,869. That tops Friday’s season-high of 6,668, which was 88 tickets short of a sellout. The previous high at Amsoil Arena in 2025-26 over the first 13 home games was 5,801 on Saturday, Jan. 4 against Western Michigan. UMD entered the weekend averaging 5,337 fans per game, which ranked 10th in the NCAA and fourth in the NCHC.

The Bulldogs have two regular season home games remaining, Feb. 27-28 against Colorado College, and hold the final spot to host a best-of-three NCHC quarterfinal series March 6-8, sitting fourth in the NCHC.

The Bulldogs are idle next weekend before hitting the road for the final time in the 2025-26 regular season at Miami. The Bulldogs and RedHawks drop the puck at 4:30 p.m. CST on Feb. 20 and at 5:05 p.m. CST on Feb. 21.

North Dakota 0-0-4—4
Minnesota Duluth 0-0-1—1
First period
No scoring.
Second period
No scoring.
Third period
1. ND, Mac Swanson (Will Zellers, Abram Wiebe), 4:49 (pp)
2. ND, Zellers (Wiebe, Swanson), 7:35 (pp)
3. UMD, Zam Plante (Max Plante, Aaron Pionk), 12:02
4. ND, Dylan James (Wiebe), 14:44
5. ND, James (Ben Striden), 17:06 (en)
Saves — Jan Spunar, ND, 25; Ethan Dahlmeir, UMD, 24.
Power play — ND 2-5; UMD 0-4. Penalties — ND 5-10; UMD 4-11.