NEW YORK, Sept. 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — American News Group News Commentary – The global data center market was valued at approximately $187.35 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach roughly $517.17 billion by 2030, a compound annual growth rate of about 10.5%, according to a market study published by Allied Market Research. That forecast, however, understates what has happened to the physical inputs behind it. Capital is not the scarce ingredient in the artificial intelligence buildout. Electricity that is already flowing, at a site a data center can actually occupy, has become the constraint that determines which projects get built and when.

Active Companies from around the markets with current developments this week include: Healthy Choice Wellness Corp. (NYSE American: HCWC), Applied Digital Corporation (Nasdaq: APLD), Cipher Digital Inc. (Nasdaq: CIFR), Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: DLR), and Bloom Energy Corporation (NYSE: BE).

Other forecasters sizing the same buildout arrive at steeper numbers for the segments most exposed to artificial intelligence. MarketsandMarkets projects the hyperscale data center market alone will expand from approximately $162.79 billion in 2024 to roughly $608.54 billion by 2030, a compound annual growth rate of about 24.6%, per an August 2026 report summary. The same firm projects the services layer supporting those facilities will grow from about $115.94 billion in 2025 to roughly $320.89 billion by 2030.

Those are dollars. The more revealing unit is megawatts. JLL research on the global data center sector describes an infrastructure investment supercycle that could require as much as $3 trillion by 2030, with roughly 100 gigawatts of new capacity anticipated to come online between 2026 and 2030. Converting that pipeline into operating capacity is not primarily a financing problem. It is a queue problem.

Grid interconnection queues in the largest United States markets now stretch for years. Substations take years to build. Transmission upgrades run on utility timelines rather than technology timelines. A model can be retrained in weeks and shipped overnight. Fifty megawatts of utility capacity cannot be added on the same schedule, at any price. That mismatch between the speed of software and the speed of the physical world has become the defining feature of the current cycle, and it has repriced a specific and unglamorous asset: the industrial site that is already energized.

It has also opened a gap in the middle of the market. Most of the headline announcements of the past eighteen months describe gigawatt-scale campuses aimed at the largest hyperscale tenants. Those projects absorb enormous capital and multi-year construction schedules. Beneath them sits a tier of demand measured in tens of megawatts rather than hundreds, from tenants who need capacity delivered on a timeline the gigawatt campuses cannot meet. Sites in the twenty to one hundred megawatt range are too small to interest the largest developers and too large for most regional operators to power. That is the gap, and a small number of companies have begun building specifically into it.

Contracted Before Listed: A 43 MW Take-or-Pay Lease Worth Approximately $1.25 Billion Over Its Base Term

Healthy Choice Wellness Corp. (NYSE American: HCWC) is completing a reverse merger with Host Digital Infrastructure LLC, a vertically integrated digital infrastructure platform focused on artificial intelligence and high-performance computing data centers. The transaction inverts the usual small-cap sequence. Rather than presenting a market, a strategy and a hoped-for revenue line, the business arrives with a signed long-term contract already in place.

A 15-year lease signed August 7, 2026 covering approximately 43 MW of critical IT load at an existing northeast Oklahoma facility.

Approximately $1.25 billion of contracted revenue across the 15-year base term, structured take-or-pay with annual rent escalators.

Approximately $3.2 billion in contracted revenue if all renewal options are exercised across a possible 30-year total term.

The lease is expected to be supported by a backstop from a United States based, investment grade global technology company.

Delivery to the tenant is expected in the first half of 2027. No revenue has been recognised under the lease to date.

The counterparty is described by the Company as one of the world’s largest privately held cloud infrastructure companies and has not been publicly named. The lease includes customary rent abatement terms for outages, in line with other data center leases. Full details were disclosed in the Company’s August 31, 2026 announcement.

What distinguishes the underlying model is its deliberate refusal to chase scale. Host Digital has described a development approach centred on three disciplines: securing near-term, energized power; targeting right-sized sites with approximately 20 MW to 100 MW of grid power available today or in the near term, supplemented by behind-the-meter generation where appropriate; and developing against long-term contracted demand supported by strong or credit-enhanced counterparties. The company aims to own and control each facility’s core infrastructure, from land, buildings and interconnection rights through to utility agreements, electrical systems and cooling, while tenants control the compute and model layers.

The northeast Oklahoma facility fits that template. It is an existing industrial building of nearly 80,000 square feet with existing load above 45 megawatts, rather than open ground awaiting an interconnection queue. Host Digital holds its rights to the site pursuant to a property lease entered into on November 25, 2025 rather than outright fee ownership.

“Host Digital is approaching its public market debut with 43 MW of critical IT load committed under a 15-year take-or-pay lease, representing approximately $1.25 billion in base-term contracted revenue,” said Shawn Matthews, who is expected to serve as Chairman of the combined company following closing. “This is the model we intend to scale: secure near-term, energized power; focus on right-sized sites; and contract with strong or credit-enhanced counterparties before deploying significant capital.”

“Power-ready sites capable of meeting AI deployment timelines are increasingly scarce,” said Harmol Samra, Chief Executive Officer of Host Digital and expected Chief Executive Officer of the combined company. “Our team is focused on converting that advantage into execution by delivering this capacity in the first half of 2027 and scaling a repeatable model for leading AI and HPC customers.”

The leadership brought to the vehicle has operated at the intersection of real estate, power and capital markets before. Samra previously held roles at Starwood Capital and ICONIQ Capital, and helped build and oversee IPI Partners, which at the time of its sale to Blue Owl in 2024 held a portfolio of 82 data centers comprising more than 2.2 gigawatts of leased capacity globally. Matthews served as Chief Executive Officer of Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. from 2009 to 2018 and has more than three decades across financial markets, energy and infrastructure. John Ollet continues as Chief Financial Officer. Board and executive positions are expected to become effective pursuant to closing.

The board’s own proxy materials frame the valuation directly. They disclose an analysis indicating annual base rent of approximately $60 million to $76 million in the first year on 40 to 47 megawatts of critical IT load, increasing 3% annually, a total 15-year contract value of approximately $1.1 billion to $1.4 billion, and an indicative valuation range of approximately $676 million to $954 million applying discount rates of approximately 5% to 6.5%. Host Digital was valued in the transaction at $425 million. The definitive proxy statement sets this out in full.

There are several risks associated with the Company’s plans

Stockholders approved all proposals at a special meeting held August 27, 2026, including the stock issuance, an increase in authorised shares to two billion and a name change. That vote satisfied a condition to completion; it was not completion itself. The merger remains expected to close in September 2026, subject to the satisfaction of remaining conditions, and there is no assurance it will be completed or completed on the expected timeline. A 1-for-35 reverse stock split took effect August 28, 2026, with split-adjusted trading from August 31, 2026 under a new CUSIP. NYSE American treats a reverse merger as equivalent to a new listing, which means the combined entity must satisfy initial listing standards including a minimum share price of US$4.00. That is a live condition rather than a formality. Following closing the combined company is expected to trade under the symbol HOST, subject to exchange approval, so readers should confirm the current trading symbol before acting.

The dilution is substantial. Host Digital holders are expected to hold approximately 96% of the combined company following an issuance of roughly 1.57 billion shares, a figure struck before the reverse split, leaving legacy holders with a small minority of the resulting entity. As of June 30, 2026, prior to the combination, Healthy Choice Wellness Corp. reported cash and cash equivalents of approximately $0.9 million, negative working capital of approximately $6.6 million and net losses of approximately $6.7 million for the prior six-month period, and disclosed substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern. Developing data center infrastructure is capital intensive and the capital required has not yet been raised. Renewal options are options rather than commitments, no revenue has been recognised under the lease, and the delivery date remains subject to construction, commissioning, financing and the performance of both parties. Investors should review the definitive proxy statement and the Company’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov in full.

Several other industry developments and happenings in the market this week include:

Applied Digital Corporation (Nasdaq: APLD) demonstrates what the same contracting structure looks like at the opposite end of the scale range. The company designs, develops and operates data centers and high-performance computing facilities across its Polaris Forge and Delta Forge campuses, and has built its business on long-duration take-or-pay leases with investment grade hyperscale tenants.

Company filings detail the structure. Subsidiaries entered data center leases with CoreWeave, Inc. to deliver an aggregate 400 MW at Polaris Forge 1 across three buildings, the first of which became operational in November 2025. In October 2025, further subsidiaries entered a lease with a United States based investment grade hyperscaler to deliver 200 MW of critical IT load at Polaris Forge 2, phased across two buildings. The lease detail appears in the Company’s quarterly report on Form 10-Q.

The Company has since disclosed total contracted critical IT load of approximately 1.4 gigawatts representing roughly $36 billion of base-term lease revenue, alongside a series of senior secured note financings raised to fund construction. Further corporate disclosure is available through the Company’s investor relations newsroom.

The contrast with a right-sized developer is instructive rather than competitive. Applied Digital’s model requires enormous upfront capital and multi-year construction against campuses measured in hundreds of megawatts, and carries the leverage and execution risk that goes with it. The same take-or-pay lease structure applied to a single 43 megawatt building is a materially different proposition in both scale and risk profile.

Cipher Digital Inc. (Nasdaq: CIFR) illustrates the conversion route into the same market. The company was formerly named Cipher Mining Inc.; its board approved a change of name to Cipher Digital Inc. effective February 20, 2026, with its Nasdaq ticker and CUSIP unchanged, to reflect a strategic shift from bitcoin mining toward high-performance computing data center development.

The pivot is anchored on contracted capacity. The Company executed a 15-year data center campus lease with Amazon Web Services covering 300 MW, and a 10-year artificial intelligence hosting agreement with Fluidstack and Google. It has also secured majority ownership in a joint venture developing a one-gigawatt West Texas site named Colchis, which includes a fully executed direct connect agreement with American Electric Power targeting energization in 2028. The rebrand and strategic detail were set out in the Company’s fourth quarter and full year 2025 business update.

Cipher’s route to AI infrastructure ran through assets originally built for a different purpose, which is the same underlying logic that makes an existing energized industrial building valuable. Heavy electrical infrastructure constructed for one industry becomes the scarcest input for another. The company has financed that transition through high-yield bond offerings at the project level and continues to wind down its legacy mining operations.

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: DLR) provides the clearest evidence that demand for smaller deployments is not a niche. The company operates one of the world’s largest cloud and carrier neutral data center platforms, and its most recent results show record leasing specifically in the smaller-deployment category.

In its second quarter of 2026, reported July 23, 2026, the company signed total bookings expected to generate $307 million of annualized GAAP base rent at 100% share, of which $208 million was at Digital Realty’s share, including a $108 million contribution from the zero to one megawatt plus interconnection category. Backlog reached a record $1.9 billion at 100% share, and the company raised its full year core funds from operations per share guidance. The results were filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Form 8-K.

Management characterised the zero to one megawatt plus interconnection bookings as a record, alongside renewal spreads above 25% and a development pipeline of 1.4 gigawatts under construction. Two further hyperscale leases were signed just after quarter end.

The signal worth extracting is the pricing power in supply-constrained markets. When an operator of Digital Realty’s scale is setting records in its smallest deployment category and renewing existing customers at spreads above 25%, it indicates that capacity is scarce across the size spectrum rather than only at the top of it.

Bloom Energy Corporation (NYSE: BE) sits on the supply side of the same constraint. The company’s solid oxide fuel cell systems provide onsite electricity for data centers, semiconductor manufacturing, utilities and other commercial and industrial customers, which is precisely the behind-the-meter generation that developers use to supplement grid power where interconnection timelines will not cooperate.

The company reported record revenue of approximately $1.065 billion in the second quarter of 2026, up roughly 166% year over year, with product revenue up approximately 215%, and raised full year 2026 revenue guidance to a range of approximately $3.9 billion to $4.2 billion. It has also expanded financing and market reach through partnerships including Brookfield and Oracle. Company disclosure is available through its investor relations site.

Bloom’s trajectory is a useful proxy for how binding the power constraint has become. Onsite generation is more expensive per megawatt hour than grid supply in most circumstances. Demand of this magnitude for it indicates that a meaningful share of the market has concluded that waiting for the grid is more expensive still, in time rather than in dollars.

Contact Information:

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Article Sources:

[1] Healthy Choice Wellness Corp. and Host Digital Infrastructure LLC corporate disclosures, news releases and filings, including the definitive proxy statement, the Agreement and Plan of Merger dated May 27, 2026, the August 7, 2026 lease announced August 31, 2026, the August 27, 2026 special meeting results and the reverse stock split announcement. Filings are available on EDGAR at www.sec.gov.

[2] Allied Market Research global data center market study; MarketsandMarkets hyperscale data center and data center services market reports; JLL global data center outlook research.

[3] Public disclosures, filings and reported results of the referenced companies (Applied Digital Corporation, Cipher Digital Inc., Digital Realty Trust, Inc. and Bloom Energy Corporation) as cited in the body of this article.

DISCLAIMER:

Nothing in this publication should be considered personalized financial advice. We are not licensed under securities laws to address your particular financial situation, and no communication from us should be deemed personalized financial advice. Please consult a licensed financial advisor before making any investment decision. This is a paid advertisement and is neither an offer nor a recommendation to buy or sell any security. We hold no investment licenses and are neither licensed nor qualified to provide investment advice. The material in this article is intended to be strictly informational and is never to be construed or interpreted as research material. All readers are strongly urged to perform their own research and due diligence and to consult a licensed financial professional before considering any level of investing in stocks.

This article is being distributed for Market Equities Limited, a company incorporated under the laws of Ireland (“MEL”), which wholly owns and operates American News Group. MEL has been paid a fee for Healthy Choice Wellness Corp. / Host Digital advertising and digital media from Creative Direct Marketing Group (“CDMG”). MEL has not been paid a fee directly by the profiled company, and MEL is not affiliated with, and is a separate and independent entity from, CDMG and the profiled company. MEL also expects to receive further compensation as part of an ongoing digital media effort to increase visibility for the company. No further notice will be given, but let this disclaimer serve as notice that all material, including this article, has been reviewed and approved by Healthy Choice Wellness Corp. and CDMG.

This compensation constitutes a conflict of interest as to our ability to remain objective in our communication regarding the profiled company. Because of this conflict, individuals are strongly encouraged not to use this publication as the basis for any investment decision.

MEL and its owner/operators do not own any shares of Healthy Choice Wellness Corp., but reserve the right to buy and sell shares of Healthy Choice Wellness Corp. at any time without any further notice commencing immediately and ongoing, in the open market, through private placements, and/or through other investment vehicles. There may also be third parties who hold shares of Healthy Choice Wellness Corp. and may liquidate their shares, which could have a negative effect on the price of the stock.

While all information is believed to be reliable, it is not guaranteed by us to be accurate. Individuals should assume that all information contained in this publication is not trustworthy unless verified by their own independent research. Because events and circumstances frequently do not occur as expected, there will likely be differences between any predictions and actual results. Investors are cautioned that they may lose all or a portion of their investment when investing in stocks. Be extremely careful, investing in securities carries a high degree of risk; you may lose some or all of your investment.

Cautionary Note Regarding the Merger, Listing and Capital Structure: This article describes the business of Host Digital Infrastructure LLC in connection with its pending combination with Healthy Choice Wellness Corp. pursuant to an Agreement and Plan of Merger dated May 27, 2026. Stockholders approved the stock issuance proposal, an increase in authorised shares and a name change at a special meeting held August 27, 2026, but the merger had not closed as of the date of this article and closing remains subject to the satisfaction of remaining conditions. There is no assurance the merger will be completed, or completed on the expected timeline. A 1-for-35 reverse stock split took effect August 28, 2026, with split-adjusted trading from August 31, 2026 under a new CUSIP; share counts referenced in this article that were struck in connection with the merger agreement, including the issuance of approximately 1,574,074,074 shares and the increase in authorised common shares to 2,000,000,000, were determined prior to the reverse split. Host Digital was valued at approximately $425 million in stock and pre-funded warrants, with Host Digital holders to hold approximately 96% of the combined company, resulting in substantial dilution to legacy holders. NYSE American treats a reverse merger as equivalent to an initial listing, and the combined company must satisfy initial listing standards, including a minimum share price of US$4.00; there is no assurance those standards will be satisfied or that the exchange will approve continued listing. The combined company is expected to trade under the symbol HOST following closing, subject to exchange approval, and accordingly the corporate name, share count and trading symbol may differ from those shown in this article. Readers should confirm the current trading symbol before acting and should review the definitive proxy statement and the Company’s other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in full.

Cautionary Note Regarding the Lease and the Facility: The lease described in this article was entered into on August 7, 2026 with a counterparty described as a major privately held cloud infrastructure company that has not been publicly named. Contracted revenue figures of approximately $1.25 billion over the 15-year base term and approximately $3.2 billion assuming exercise of all renewal options over a possible 30-year term are as disclosed by the Company; renewal options are options and may not be exercised. The expected backstop from a United States based, investment grade global technology company is as described by the Company and that party has not been named. No revenue has been recognised under the lease. Delivery to the tenant is expected in the first half of 2027 and is subject to construction, commissioning, capital availability and the performance of both parties. Host Digital holds its rights to the northeast Oklahoma facility pursuant to a property lease entered into on November 25, 2025 rather than outright fee ownership. Facility square footage, existing electrical load, valuation analyses and biographical descriptions of management are as described by the Company or in its filings and have not been independently verified by the publisher.

Cautionary Note Regarding Financial Condition: As of June 30, 2026, prior to completion of the merger, Healthy Choice Wellness Corp. reported cash and cash equivalents of approximately $0.9 million, negative working capital of approximately $6.6 million and net losses of approximately $6.7 million for the prior six-month period, and disclosed substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern. Those figures relate to the pre-combination public company and its legacy natural and organic grocery operations, and are not indicative of the combined company’s financial position following closing. The shares have experienced significant price volatility. Development of data center infrastructure is capital intensive and requires financing that has not been secured. Past share price performance is not indicative of future results.

Cautionary Note Regarding Market Projections: Market size and growth figures attributed to Allied Market Research, MarketsandMarkets and JLL are third-party projections for the global data center, hyperscale data center and data center services markets and for global capacity additions. They describe total addressable market activity across many participants and do not represent addressable revenue, forecast revenue, or any projection of results for the profiled company or any referenced company. Third-party projections are estimates and actual outcomes may differ materially.

Cautionary Note Regarding Referenced Companies: References to Applied Digital Corporation, Cipher Digital Inc., Digital Realty Trust, Inc. and Bloom Energy Corporation are provided solely as market and sector context. None of them is a peer, competitor, or financial comparable of the profiled company. They are larger, established, revenue-generating companies at a materially different stage of development and scale, and their contracts, leases, revenues, earnings and share performance are not indicative of the profiled company’s prospects. Contract and capacity values attributed to those companies are as reported and represent contracted amounts over multi-year terms rather than recognised revenue. None of the companies named has any involvement in the profiled company, this article, or its distribution. No partnership, affiliation, sponsorship, or endorsement is implied, and no relationship of any kind between the profiled company and any tenant, counterparty or artificial intelligence developer referenced in connection with those companies is implied or should be inferred.

Eagle Eye Disclosure: Eagle Eye is an investor signal-intelligence platform affiliated with the publisher of this article, and this reference constitutes promotion of an affiliated product. Eagle Eye is not a broker-dealer, and nothing in the platform or in this article is financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. Data provided in the platform is for informational purposes only and may be delayed. Always do your own research before making any investment decision.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This article contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements regarding the expected completion and timing of the merger, expected exchange approval and the anticipated change of trading symbol, contracted revenue, delivery of the facility, the commencement of revenue, the potential replication of the Company’s model at additional sites, capital requirements, and management’s plans and objectives. Such statements are generally preceded by words such as “may”, “future”, “plan” or “planned”, “will” or “should”, “expected”, “anticipates”, “intends”, “targeted” or “projected”. You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual circumstances, events, or results to differ materially, including closing, construction, permitting, counterparty, financing, dilution, listing and market risks, and other risks identified in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov. Do not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this article are made as of the date above and American News Group undertakes no obligation to update them.

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