Applied Digital vs. IREN: Evaluating the Better Artificial Intelligence Stock to Buy for 2026
Applied Digital trades at a lower valuation multiple, but IREN's transition to AI services comes with lower leverage, a key tradeoff for growth investors.
Overview
As the race for artificial intelligence capacity intensifies, investors can choose between Applied Digital (NASDAQ:APLD) and IREN (NASDAQ:IREN) to capture the explosive growth of specialized data center infrastructure, called neoclouds.
Applied Digital provides the physical environment for heavy computational workloads, while IREN utilizes its expansive energy footprint to pivot from traditional crypto mining toward cloud solutions. Both companies offer unique ways to play the physical layer of the tech stock revolution.
Details
Applied Digital designs and operates next-generation digital infrastructure that supports high-performance computing (HPC) and cloud services. The company focuses on the needs of artificial intelligence and machine learning clients who require more computational power than traditional data centers provide. This strategy is highly dependent on a few key partnerships, including a significant relationship with CoreWeave, which holds multiple leases at the company's Polaris Forge campus. Customer concentration like this adds a layer of risk to the business, particularly since one customer accounted for approximately 59% of HPC segment revenue recently.
Source
Originally published at www.fool.com.