The Stack
Status Tightening as of 12 Oct 2026: turbine slots first. BKV ordered about 1,200 MW of gas power gear with a hyperscaler covering most early payments from September 2028. Nebius prepays AIB's equity for a 50 MW hall. Applied Digital booked $65.8M base rent on live halls. Switch-on still binds.
AI Data Centers
Macquarie Technology Group is an Australian data-centre, cloud, cyber and telecom company. At 30 June 2026 it ran 21 MW of installed capacity, is finishing IC3 SuperWest (47 MW design), and closed a Macquarie Park site for a proposed ~200 MW campus. FY26 revenue was A$390.0m.
AI Data Centers
Digital Core REIT is a Singapore-listed trust sponsored by Digital Realty that owns stakes in 11 data centres worth US$1.9bn, mostly in the US, Germany and Japan. In 1H 2026 it paid 1.80 US cents a unit, flat, and agreed a sponsor deal that would double Asia's share of its assets.
AI Data Centers
NEXTDC builds and runs data centres in Australia, with Kuala Lumpur open and Tokyo and Auckland in development. At 30 June 2026 it had 740.1 MW contracted on a pro forma basis but was billing for only 175.0 MW, and it guides 197 MW to start billing in FY27.
AI Data Centers
Keppel DC REIT is a Singapore-listed trust that owns 25 data centres in 10 countries, 62.8% of its assets in Singapore, and passes the rent on as distributions. In 1H 2026 distributable income rose 18.5% to S$150.7m and DPU rose 11.3% to 5.714 cents.
AI Data Centers
Applied Digital designs, builds and runs AI data-centre campuses and leases them to large tenants. It has 1.41 GW leased and about $36bn of contracted base-term rent, but 250 MW of AI hall live as of 1 Oct 2026. It gets paid base rent once each hall is handed over.
AI Data Centers
Digital Realty owns and runs 310 data centres and leases the space, power and connections inside them. In Q2 2026 it signed $307m of new annual rent, carried a record $1.9bn backlog that is signed but not yet paying, and said new leases start paying about nine months after signing.
AI Data Centers
Equinix rents powered, cooled data-centre space and the connections between its customers. In Q2 2026 it reported $2.625bn of revenue, about 90% of it recurring, and plans $5–6bn of capital spending in 2026. It gets paid by the month, not when a chip ships.
Home / The Stack / AI Data Centers
AI data center stocks are the listed companies that own, build or lease the powered buildings AI chips run in. They include data center REITs such as Equinix and Digital Realty, AI hosts such as Applied Digital, Asia landlords such as Keppel DC REIT and NEXTDC, and the ETFs that bundle them. This Stack layer tracks who gets paid and which step holds the cash.
Asia doors: Singapore · Australia · Malaysia · US: US door
Status: Tightening · Updated: 2026-10-08
Investor read: Signed isn’t switched on. At 30 June 2026 NEXTDC had 740.1 MW under contract, 287.9 MW built and 175.0 MW billing. Digital Realty ended June with a record $1.9 billion of yearly rent signed but not yet started, and says $635 million of it starts in the second half of 2026. Applied Digital has 1,200 MW contracted, but its newest 300 MW campus is not due to open until August 2027. Landlords book the lease now. The rent starts when the power is on. The stuck step is the switch-on date.
| Figure | Source / date | |
|---|---|---|
| NEXTDC contracted vs built vs billing | 740.1 MW contracted · 287.9 MW built · 175.0 MW billing (30 Jun 2026) | NEXTDC FY26 results, 27 Aug 2026 |
| NEXTDC forward order book | 565.1 MW · more than 3.2× billing | Same |
| NEXTDC capex, FY26 | A$3,397M (guidance was A$2.7–3.0B) | Same |
| Digital Realty backlog (signed, not started) | $1.9B yearly rent at 100% share · $1.4B at DLR share | Digital Realty 2Q26, 23 Jul 2026 |
| Digital Realty rent starting 2H26 | $635M of yearly rent (45% in Q3, 55% in Q4) | Digital Realty 2Q26 call, 23 Jul 2026 |
| Digital Realty sign-to-start lag | 9 months (weighted average, 2Q26 leases) | Digital Realty 2Q26, 23 Jul 2026 |
| Digital Realty renewal rents | +25.4% cash · +32.0% GAAP | Same |
| Equinix 2Q26 revenue | $2.625B, +16% · 134 MW of xScale leases closed (~$120M one-off fees) | Equinix, 29 Jul 2026 |
| Equinix 2026 guidance | Revenue $10.205–10.285B · total capex $5–6B | Same |
| Applied Digital contracted capacity | 1,200 MW IT load · $31B contracted lease revenue | Applied Digital, 20 May 2026 |
| Applied Digital Polaris Forge 3 | 300 MW · 15-year take-or-pay · ops from Aug 2027 | Same |
| Keppel DC REIT 1H26 DPU | 5.714 Singapore cents, +11.3% · contracted power capacity ~95% · leverage 34.0% | Keppel DC REIT, 23 Jul 2026 |
| Digital Core REIT 1H26 DPU | 1.80 US cents, flat · occupancy 97.3% · leverage 39.2% | Digital Core REIT 1H26 results, Jul 2026 |
| Singapore new capacity (DC-CFA2) | 200 MW provisionally allocated · 50 MW each to Digital Realty, Equinix, Keppel, STT GDC | EDB / IMDA, 21 Aug 2026 |
| AirTrunk Johor platform | 700+ MW across four campuses · US$2.325B green loan for JHB2 | AirTrunk, 30 Apr and 29 Jul 2026 |
| Goodman data center power bank | 6.4 GW across 16 cities · data centres 78% of A$19.7B work in progress | Goodman FY26, 20 Aug 2026 |
| Global X DTCR (data center ETF) | US$2.08B · 25 holdings · 0.50% fee · top: DLR 12.57%, EQIX 12.37%, AMT 12.08% | Global X, as of 7 Oct 2026 |
Read the table in two columns. Contracts and money are dated 2026. Switched-on megawatts run from late 2026 to 2027 and beyond.
An AI data center turns land, power and money into a hall a tenant can fill with chips. Cash moves in this order:
The popular story says data centers are short of demand or short of money. The prints say neither. NEXTDC has contracted 257% of what it has built. Digital Realty’s backlog is about 30% of its in-place data center rent. Equinix closed 134 MW of xScale leases in one quarter. What is short is switched-on capacity: halls with power connected and handed to the tenant.
That step moves slowly. NEXTDC expects 197 MW to convert to billing during FY27, about a third of its order book. Applied Digital’s 300 MW Polaris Forge 3 lease was signed in May 2026, with operations due in August 2027. In Johor, grid delivery, not power generation, is deciding which projects stay on schedule (Business Times, 12 Feb 2026). Our Applied Digital 75 MW Wire shows what a switch-on looks like when it does land.
This is an exposure map, not a buy list. Each route earns money at a different step.
| Route | Examples | How they get paid | What to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| US data center REITs | Equinix (EQIX), Digital Realty (DLR), Iron Mountain (data centers segment) | Rent and interconnection once leases start | Backlog, commencement timing, renewal spreads, AFFO per share |
| AI hosts and developers (not REITs) | Applied Digital (APLD) | Long take-or-pay leases, after energisation | Opening dates, construction financing, tenant concentration |
| Singapore-listed data center REITs | Keppel DC REIT, Digital Core REIT | Rent paid out as DPU | Contracted power capacity, leverage, lease expiries, where the assets are |
| Australian landlords and developers | NEXTDC (not a REIT), Goodman Group (industrial landlord with a data center pipeline) | Billing MW; development profits | Contracted vs billing MW, capex, power secured |
| Private platforms (not listed) | AirTrunk (Blackstone-owned) | Hyperscale leases | Visible through campus and loan announcements |
| Data center ETFs | Global X DTCR; Pacer SRVR | Basket of the above, plus towers and some chip and server names | What share is actually data centers; fee |
Always check listing, currency and tax treatment where you live. Names here map roles. They are not recommendations.
| Date | Event | What to look for |
|---|---|---|
| 28 Oct 2026 | Equinix Q3 2026 results | xScale leasing, capex, AFFO guidance |
| 29 Oct 2026 | Digital Realty Q3 2026 results | How much of the $635M 2H26 rent actually started |
| 1 Dec 2026 | Digital Core REIT: 10-year cloud lease at 8217 Linton Hall starts | Occupancy toward 98%; first rent from the converted building |
| FY27 (to Jun 2027) | NEXTDC: 197 MW expected to convert to billing | Billing MW at the half-year print |
| Aug 2027 | Applied Digital Polaris Forge 3 operations | Whether the 300 MW opens on time |
Stack
Explained
Markets and Wire
No. It maps roles and the step that holds the cash. Names are examples of exposure, not picks. Not investment advice. Do your own research.
Listed companies that own, build, lease or fill the powered buildings AI chips run in. The main groups are data center REITs (Equinix, Digital Realty), AI hosts and developers (Applied Digital), Asia landlords (Keppel DC REIT, Digital Core REIT, NEXTDC) and the equipment makers that supply them.
Yes. The Global X Data Center & Digital Infrastructure ETF (DTCR) held 25 names with US$2.08 billion of net assets and a 0.50% expense ratio on 7 October 2026. About a quarter of it sat in tower companies, and 40.9% was in technology stocks, so it is not a pure data center basket. The Pacer Data & Infrastructure Real Estate ETF (SRVR) is a REIT-focused alternative.
No. REITs are one row. A REIT earns rent once a lease starts and pays most of it out. AI hosts such as Applied Digital are not REITs; they sign long take-or-pay leases and borrow to build. NEXTDC is also not a REIT. Equipment makers get paid before any landlord.
Signed capacity is running far ahead of switched-on capacity. NEXTDC had 740.1 MW contracted against 287.9 MW built at 30 June 2026. Digital Realty’s signed-but-not-started backlog hit a record $1.9 billion. The bind is the date each hall gets power and starts billing.
Hyperscalers covers the cloud companies’ spending and power contracts. Neoclouds covers the firms that rent out GPU hours. This layer covers the buildings and the landlords: megawatts, halls, leases and the switch-on date.
A building with the power, cooling and network to run dense racks of AI chips. Read the full explainer: What Is an AI Data Center? Who Gets Paid, Who Waits.
Not investment advice. Do your own research.
Last updated: 2026-10-08 · Second Order by TKN
Other desks cover this layer too. These keep their own addresses.