Skip to content
‹ Back to IndustriesArchitecture & Design

AI First: Revolutionizing High-Performance Computing Design at the Ellendale Data Center

In Ellendale, North Dakota, the construction of a new data center, termed the 'AI Brain data center', is set to redefine standards in computational infrastructure. This facility, driven by Applied Digital under CEO Wes Cummings, integrates an unprecedented number of GPUs, aiming to facilitate around seventy thousand H100 class GPUs. This design sets a new benchmark for flexibility in meeting various high-demand computing needs.

This story was produced through MarketScale. See how Architecture & Design teams put it to work with Executive Thought Leadership.

Promoted content from Applied Digital on MarketScale.

By Software And Technology · · Ai-first Business PodcastApplied DigitalHigh-performance ComputingHpc
Share

Key takeaways

01

Ellendale, North Dakota is home to a groundbreaking high-performance computing development.

02

Applied Digital's 'AI Brain data center' integrates an unprecedented number of GPUs.

03

The facility aims to create one of the world's largest supercomputers by accommodating seventy thousand H100 class GPUs.

Free workspace

Turn your Architecture & Design expertise into content.

Record interviews, organize footage, and write with AI on a free trial of the MarketScale platform for qualifying companies. No demo required, no credit card.

Try it Free

In the rapidly evolving high-performance computing (HPC) landscape, a groundbreaking development emerges from Ellendale, North Dakota. This innovation seeks to redefine the benchmarks of computational power and design.

In the AI-First Business Podcast, host Tina Yazdi explores the future of HPC design with Wes Cummings, CEO and Chairman of Applied Digital. The discussion centers on the revolutionary AI Brain data center, a project that heralds a new era in supercomputing.

Applied Digital has embarked on an ambitious project: constructing a 100MW data center in Ellendale, North Dakota, known as the "AI Brain Data Center." The design of this architectural and technological feat integrates an unprecedented number of GPUs into a single compute cluster. According to Wes Cummings, this design could facilitate around seventy thousand H100 class GPUs operating together, potentially creating the world's largest supercomputer. While it may be unlikely for one customer to harness the full capacity, the center's design offers remarkable flexibility to meet various high-demand computing needs, from aerospace simulations to complex urban engineering computations. As Applied Digital forges ahead, the AI Brain Data Center should be a hallmark of technological prowess in the heart of North Dakota, reshaping the future of high-performance computing.

This design could facilitate around seventy thousand H100 class GPUs operating together, potentially creating the world's largest supercomputer.
— Wes Cummings, CEO and Chairman at Applied Digital

Video TranscriptExpand ↓

It's kind of been my, like, my vision is the facility we're building in in Elondale, North Dakota now. It's gonna be a hundred megawatts same building. And it is what I call the AI Brain data center. It's configured and built in such a way or will be built in such a way, but designed in a way that you could actually put all of the GPUs inside of the building on the same compute cluster. So You could get roughly seventy thousand H100 class GPUs on the same cluster. So that would be, you know, far and away the, the largest supercomputer in the world. If you did that, unlikely that we'll have a customer that wants all of them in the same cluster, but it's designed that way.

Part of this channel

Applied Digital

News, updates, and expert insights from Applied Digital.

Visit the channel

Your experts belong here

Every story in MarketScale Architecture & Design starts with a company putting its architects, designers, and spec writers on the record. Buyers are already reading this topic. The only question is whose experts they find.

Specifiers choose partners whose work they have already seen explained, and your designers can be that explanation.

Book DemoSee how it works15 minutes, straight to a calendar.

About the author

SA
Software And Technology
B2B Weekly

The week in Architecture & Design, and sixteen other industries, every Monday.

Ten stories, one-line takes, five minutes. Free.

Architecture & Design: are you visible to AI?

Before they reach out, Architecture & Design buyers ask AI engines which vendors to trust. Explore how your experts, customers, and partners can become useful content for buyers and AI search.

Free Trial

You just read one Architecture & Design expert. Your company is full of them.

This article was produced through MarketScale. The same platform turns your architects, designers, and spec writers into the articles, video, and social content Architecture & Design buyers are searching for. Start a free trial and see it with your own people. For qualifying companies, no credit card, no demo required.

NPS +73 · 1,000+ creators · 38+ countries

What your free trial includes

Hands-on access to the MarketScale platform
Media requests to your crowd, remote recording, AI writing tools
No demo required. No credit card.
For qualifying companies. Company confirmation required.

More Architecture & Design Insights

SOM's twin-tower Sany IROOTECH headquarters in Guangzhou wins Best Tall Building Worldwide

SOM's twin-tower Sany IROOTECH headquarters in Guangzhou wins Best Tall Building Worldwide

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill's Sany IROOTECH Headquarters in Guangzhou, a complex of 204-meter and 186-meter towers, won Best Tall Building Worldwide at the Council on Vertical Urbanism Awards. Its exposed hexagrid frame is designed to accommodate movement under wind and seismic forces. For owners in high-load sites, that frame is the lesson.

  • 01This cycle's best tall building stands 204 meters, roughly a quarter of the 828-meter Burj Khalifa, and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed both.
  • 02Sany IROOTECH’s frame uses five-story mega-column modules with suspended floors, built to stay strong while accommodating wind and seismic movement.

Nov 4, 2026

How staggered sectors help firms in a sluggish market

How staggered sectors help firms in a sluggish market

At SMRT Architects & Engineers, an advanced manufacturing win can move to staffing in two weeks, while civic projects can take nine months to start.

  • 01The civic job a firm wins today is the backlog that keeps its team billing nine months from now, after private clients may have gone quiet.
  • 02Comparing win-to-staffing timelines can test whether diversification protects utilization or just spreads work across similar schedules.

Nov 2, 2026

Why Boon Edam's frameless revolving door stops at three meters

Why Boon Edam's frameless revolving door stops at three meters

Boon Edam’s frameless Crystal Tourniket uses its glass for structural strength, capping the diameter at three meters because the unsuspended glass ceiling would sag. Boon Edam says in the video that a wheelchair-accessible revolving door needs two rings and a wider drum, so the door needs an adjacent accessible entrance. The door complies with EN 16005:2023, published in 2024 as national bodies moved to withdraw the 2012 edition.

  • 01Boon Edam caps the Crystal Tourniket at three meters because its glass ceiling hangs from nothing and would sag past that span.
  • 02A wheelchair-accessible revolving door needs two rings and a drum wider than any Crystal Tourniket, so the lobby needs a second, adjacent accessible door.

Oct 23, 2026

Explore More Architecture & Design Insights

Read more expert perspectives from across Architecture & Design.

Browse Architecture & Design Hub

About the Experts

SA
Software And Technology
WC
Wes Cummings

CEO and Chairman

Applied Digital

TY
Tina Yazdi

Host

AI-First Business Podcast

For B2B teams

Your experts could be publishing here

Stories like this one run on content MarketScale captures from real practitioners. See how your team's expertise becomes coverage in Architecture & Design and beyond.

Book a Demo

Or call us. No forms required. We pick up. 214-945-2512