Applied Digital's official project name is Delta Forge 1. Louisiana Economic Development announced $3.6 billion of investment for the AI Factory campus in Rapides Parish. The campus is under construction and is designed for 430 MW of total utility power, enabling up to 300 MW of critical IT load across two facilities. LED identifies 200 direct full-time jobs, more than 1,000 peak construction jobs, and 218 estimated indirect jobs. Cleco confirmed it will serve the project. No project-specific Louisiana Public Service Commission docket or approval was identified in the reviewed record. Applied Digital expects initial operations in mid-2027.
Local reporting documented Project Lightning as an internal development codename; LouisianAI retains it in the stable legacy tracker slug, while reviewed operator primary sources do not establish it as an official project name. Records-based reporting cites a 672.52-acre EEIDD application, Applied Digital has separately described the campus as more than 500 and more than 600 acres, and Louisiana's rollout describes approximately 300 acres for the two initial facilities. Those scopes are not treated as interchangeable.
What matters first for Delta Forge 1
Applied Digital's Delta Forge 1 campus is under construction near Boyce. Public company and Louisiana Economic Development materials describe 430 MW of total utility power, up to 300 MW of critical IT load, more than 200 full-time jobs, and more than 1,000 peak construction jobs, with initial operations targeted for mid-2027. Follow this profile for the current status, utility posture, water or permit controls, source links, and alias terms that engines and readers use for the same campus.
Interactive parish, utility, transmission, and water layers load as this section enters view.
What is Delta Forge 1 in Louisiana? Applied Digital's Delta Forge 1 campus is under construction near Boyce. Public company and Louisiana Economic Development materials describe 430 MW of total utility power, up to 300 MW of critical IT load, more than 200 full-time jobs, and more than 1,000 peak construction jobs, with initial operations targeted for mid-2027. The canonical local profile is this page: /data-centers/applied-digital-project-lightning.
The important search bridge is naming: Delta Forge 1 is the company-announced name, while local reporting documented Project Lightning as an internal development codename retained in LouisianAI's stable legacy slug. The power answer must keep 430 MW of total utility design separate from up to 300 MW of critical IT load and distinguish the 672-acre acquired parcel record from Applied Digital's more-than-500 and more-than-600-acre campus descriptions and Louisiana's approximately 300-acre initial-facilities scope.
Delta Forge 1 is Applied Digital's company-announced name for the Louisiana AI factory campus near Boyce in Rapides Parish. Local reporting documented Project Lightning as an internal development codename, which LouisianAI retains in the stable legacy URL.
Applied Digital Project Lightning Louisiana is a legacy search phrase tied to the stable URL for the Rapides Parish project. Applied Digital's official project name is Delta Forge 1; local reporting documented Project Lightning as an internal development codename, but reviewed operator primary sources do not establish it as an official project name.
Applied Digital says Delta Forge 1 is designed for 430 MW of total utility power across two facilities, enabling up to 300 MW of critical IT load. Cleco is the confirmed serving utility; no project-specific LPSC docket or approval was identified in the reviewed record.
Applied Digital's Louisiana AI factory is in Rapides Parish near Boyce. LouisianAI routes Boyce data center, Delta Forge 1, Applied Digital Rapides Parish AI factory, and Project Lightning searches to this canonical project profile and the Rapides Parish hub.
Applied Digital and Louisiana Economic Development both say initial Delta Forge 1 operations are targeted for mid-2027, subject to construction execution, utility delivery, and final site buildout.
Applied Digital's official project name is Delta Forge 1. Louisiana Economic Development announced $3.6 billion of investment for the AI Factory campus in Rapides Parish. The campus is under construction and is designed for 430 MW of total utility power, enabling up to 300 MW of critical IT load across two facilities. LED identifies 200 direct full-time jobs, more than 1,000 peak construction jobs, and 218 estimated indirect jobs. Cleco confirmed it will serve the project. No project-specific Louisiana Public Service Commission docket or approval was identified in the reviewed record. Applied Digital expects initial operations in mid-2027. Local reporting documented Project Lightning as an internal development codename; LouisianAI retains it in the stable legacy tracker slug, while reviewed operator primary sources do not establish it as an official project name. Records-based reporting cites a 672.52-acre EEIDD application, Applied Digital has separately described the campus as more than 500 and more than 600 acres, and Louisiana's rollout describes approximately 300 acres for the two initial facilities. Those scopes are not treated as interchangeable.
| Claim | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| State-announced investment | $3.6 billion (Louisiana Economic Development) [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] | Rapides Parish Journal |
| Utility design and critical IT load | 430 MW total utility design · up to 300 MW critical IT load [1][3][4][8][9][5][6][7] | Rapides Parish Journal |
| Site size scopes | 672.52-acre EEIDD application · company describes more than 500 and more than 600 acres · state describes about 300 acres for two initial facilities [1][2][3][4][10][8][9][5][6][7] | Rapides Parish Journal |
| Jobs | 200 direct full-time · more than 1,000 peak construction · 218 estimated indirect [1][2][3][4][11][5][6][7] | Rapides Parish Journal |
| Cooling design | LED confirms closed-loop cooling · company describes waterless cooling at the platform level [1][2][3][4][8][5][6][7] | Rapides Parish Journal |
| Power provider | Cleco confirmed as serving utility · no project-specific LPSC docket or approval identified [11] | Cleco |
| Initial operations target | Mid-2027 (forward-looking target) [2][9] | Louisiana Economic Development |
| Project identity | Delta Forge 1 (official name) · Project Lightning (locally documented internal codename retained in legacy URL) [1][8] | Rapides Parish Journal |
| Sales/use tax and PILOT framework | Louisiana Act 730 and local PILOT structures are tracked as separate legal/economic artifacts. [12] | Louisiana Legislature |
| Entity aliases | Delta Forge 1, Applied Digital Delta Forge 1, Applied Digital Boyce data center, Applied Digital Rapides Parish AI factory, and Applied Digital Louisiana AI factory point to the Applied Digital campus near Boyce. Project Lightning is a locally documented internal codename retained in the legacy URL, not an operator-confirmed project name. [3][5][7][6][2][8][9][11][10][4][1] | Rapides Parish Journal |
Edit the inputs to compare an ad-valorem proxy against a PILOT discount, construction labor hours, and peak power demand relative to an editable parish consumption baseline.
Ad-valorem proxy
$396,000,000
PILOT proxy
$217,800,000
Construction job hours
4,160,000
Demand vs parish use
3.1x
Delta Forge 1 is Applied Digital's company-announced name for the Louisiana AI factory campus near Boyce in Rapides Parish. Local reporting documented Project Lightning as an internal development codename, which LouisianAI retains in the stable legacy URL.
Applied Digital Project Lightning Louisiana is a legacy search phrase tied to the stable URL for the Rapides Parish project. Applied Digital's official project name is Delta Forge 1; local reporting documented Project Lightning as an internal development codename, but reviewed operator primary sources do not establish it as an official project name.
Applied Digital says Delta Forge 1 is designed for 430 MW of total utility power across two facilities, enabling up to 300 MW of critical IT load. Cleco is the confirmed serving utility; no project-specific LPSC docket or approval was identified in the reviewed record.
Applied Digital's Louisiana AI factory is in Rapides Parish near Boyce. LouisianAI routes Boyce data center, Delta Forge 1, Applied Digital Rapides Parish AI factory, and Project Lightning searches to this canonical project profile and the Rapides Parish hub.
Applied Digital and Louisiana Economic Development both say initial Delta Forge 1 operations are targeted for mid-2027, subject to construction execution, utility delivery, and final site buildout.
Delta Forge 1 is tracked at Verification needed and 672 acres, with 430 MW of power capacity where public sources support the number.
Current tracked figures show 200 permanent jobs and 1,000 construction jobs, subject to source verification.
A PILOT is a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes structure negotiated locally; this page tracks the public artifacts needed to compare ad-valorem exposure with negotiated payments.
Under construction — groundbreaking announced January 2026. Exact phase delivery dates remain tied to operator updates, utility milestones, parish permits, and regulatory filings.
Delta Forge 1 is tracked in Rapides Parish, Louisiana.
Applied Digital is the operator listed for Delta Forge 1.
Water use is tracked as a verification item because definitive cooling and withdrawal figures usually appear in permits, utility exhibits, or operator environmental disclosures.
Louisiana data-center incentives can include Act 730 sales/use tax treatment and local PILOT structures; the exact package should be verified against state, parish, and operator documents.
The page tracks substations, transmission watch corridors, and utility filings as source-backed signals rather than engineering-grade interconnection maps.
Confidence labels distinguish seed, reported, and verified claims so readers can separate early intelligence from document-backed facts.
Cite this page or subscribe to filings that mention Delta Forge 1.
Local reporting documenting the Project Lightning internal codename, a 672-acre acquired site, and visible construction activity near Boyce.
State source for the $3.6 billion investment, Rapides Parish location, approximately 300-acre initial-facilities scope, jobs, Cleco service, and mid-2027 target.
Local governance artifact covering PILOT advancement.
Primary securities disclosure for a development facility supporting new data center projects; it does not identify Delta Forge 1, Louisiana acreage, or project capex.
Regional reporting tying parish rezoning actions to Boyce site.
Primary parish civil records portal for instrument retrieval.
Early-phase reporting naming Applied Digital pursuit.
Primary company source for the Delta Forge 1 name, groundbreaking, 430 MW total utility design, up to 300 MW critical IT load, jobs, site framing, and mid-2027 operations target.
SEC-hosted company source confirming Delta Forge 1 construction, 430 MW total utility design, up to 300 MW critical IT load, more-than-600-acre framing, and mid-2027 operations target.
Records-request reporting citing the 672.52-acre EEIDD application, the approximately 300-acre initial two-building scope, and future-use acreage.
Utility source confirming Cleco service, Rapides Parish, more than 1,000 construction jobs, about 200 long-term jobs, and customer-cost safeguards.
Primary state-law lookup surface for Act 730 sales/use tax exemption and local PILOT diligence.