NEXTDC contract utilization capacity jumps 11% to 740 MW, stock price rises in response
Australian data center operator NEXTDC announced on July 21 that in the three months to June, the company's new customer contracts pushed contract utilization capacity to increase by 73 megawatts to 740 megawatts, a month-on-month increase of 11%. It also estimated that the forward order backlog increased to 565 megawatts. Boosted by this news, NEXTDC's stock price rose 5% that day, the largest single-day increase since July 15, leading Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index. Since the beginning of this year, the stock has risen by more than 8%. The company said that the newly signed contract capacity is expected to be gradually converted into billing revenue, operating income and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) between the 2025-26 fiscal year and the 2029-30 fiscal year. At the same time, NEXTDC maintained its net income, underlying EBITDA and capital expenditure guidance for the 2025-26 fiscal year unchanged, indicating that this round of contract growth is a mid- to long-term conversion event rather than an immediate profit increase. This contract increase is closely related to the cooperation previously announced by Sharon AI Holdings. After Sharon AI recently partnered with NVIDIA, it signed a five-year, $950 million cloud computing contract with NEXTDC to deploy infrastructure in Australia, which requires 72 megawatts of capacity. Citigroup analysts pointed out that the increase in contract utilization capacity is in line with market expectations because it is basically consistent with the previously disclosed demand for Sharon AI. This round of growth builds on the record contracted utilization capacity of 667 MW announced by NEXTDC in April this year. To support expansion, the company recently completed A$2.3 billion in senior debt financing, raising the total available debt to A$8.7 billion.