Equinix has substantially revised its forecasts and expectations for 2026 upwards. This follows another record-breaking quarter, fuelled by strong demand for artificial intelligence applications and increased data centre construction. The data centre Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), based in Redwood City, California, achieved revenue of 2.63 billion US dollars in the second quarter. This represents an increase of 7 percent compared to the first quarter (2.44 billion US dollars) and a growth of 16 percent compared to the same period last year (2.26 billion US dollars). Equinix attributed the positive result to operational growth and one-off fees from the company's 'xScale Hyperscale' business.
The company's net income reached 477 million US dollars, up from 415 million US dollars in the first quarter and 367 million US dollars in the second quarter of 2025. Net income attributable to common stockholders amounted to 479 million US dollars, or 4.83 US dollars per share. Funds From Operations (FFO), the key metric for REIT cash flow, rose to 854 million US dollars, compared to 758 million US dollars in the previous quarter and 689 million US dollars year-on-year.
Equinix reported annualised gross bookings of 424 million US dollars, marking its highest second-quarter result and its second-highest quarterly volume in the company's history. Bookings surpassed 378 million US dollars in the first quarter and 345 million US dollars in the second quarter of 2025. Additionally, the company generated approximately 110 million US dollars from pre-sales. Adaire Fox-Martin, CEO of Equinix, emphasised during the earnings call that the majority of the largest deals were driven by AI workloads. Her revised outlook reflected a market opportunity that had significantly improved over the last twelve months.
The utilisation rate of stabilised data centres was approximately 82 percent, comparable to the first quarter. The stabilised portfolio generated revenue of 1.89 billion US dollars, an annual growth of 7 percent, and achieved a cash return on gross property investment of 27 percent, up from 24 percent in the previous year. By the end of the second quarter, Equinix had 52 projects underway in 33 markets, nine of which commenced since April, including new projects in Chicago and internationally.
Capital expenditures rose to approximately 1.58 billion US dollars, from 1.26 billion US dollars in the first quarter and 989 million US dollars year-on-year, with about 90 percent of recent spending allocated to capacity expansion. Management is also bringing forward over 7,000 retail cabinets – server rack storage – from 2027 to the fourth quarter of this year, effectively doubling the number of expected deliveries in the second half of the year. The xScale portfolio recorded lease agreements for 134 megawatts in the Americas during the quarter, including one transaction that generated approximately 120 million US dollars in non-recurring fees. Equinix has 196 megawatts of xScale capacity under development, 182 megawatts of which are already leased.
In the first half of 2026, Equinix recorded property acquisitions of 224 million US dollars and asset sale proceeds of 348 million US dollars. The REIT now expects revenue for the current year to be between 10.21 billion and 10.29 billion US dollars, representing annual growth of 11 to 12 percent, higher than the previously projected 10 to 11 percent. The forecast for adjusted FFO has been raised to 4.24 billion to 4.30 billion US dollars, while capital expenditures have increased from approximately 3.8 billion US dollars to between 4.71 billion and 5.69 billion US dollars. Fox-Martin noted this was the largest single forecast increase in the company's history. Equinix also raised its outlook for 2027 to 2029, with a forecast for annual revenue growth of 10 to 13 percent, annual capital expenditures of 5 billion to 7 billion US dollars, and adjusted FFO per share growth of 9 to 12 percent. Over 80 percent of the planned expansion will focus on the 25 largest global markets.
