HARWOOD, N.D. — One man stood in front of a crowd of hundreds — with more gathered outside the Harwood Community Center — to defend a controversial 280-megawatt, $3 billion artificial intelligence data center planned just outside of this small town north of Fargo.

On Monday, August 25, the skeptical and at times confrontational crowd peppered the AI industry representative with questions during a lengthy meeting that drew people from all over the metro.

Applied Digital — a Texas-based corporation with a handful of pricey tech projects popping up around North Dakota — said a September groundbreaking for their new facility is “a done deal.”

They have two potential locations for the new facility right now, according to Nick Phillips, Applied Digital's executive vice president of external

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