NEXTDC Limited has reported a significant acceleration in its data centre utilisation, with contracted utilisation jumping 60 percent to 667MW as at 31 March 2026, representing an increase of approximately 250MW since the end of 2025. This substantial growth reflects recent customer contract wins and underscores the strong demand trajectory for the company’s data centre capacity in an increasingly power-hungry digital economy. The expansion is particularly noteworthy given the accelerating global demand for artificial intelligence and cloud computing infrastructure.
The company’s Forward Order Book, which represents contracted utilisation that has not yet converted to active billing, has grown even more dramatically, rising 83 percent to 544MW over the same period. This metric is crucial for investors as it provides visibility into future revenue generation. NEXTDC expects this Forward Order Book to progressively convert into billing utilisation, revenue, and EBITDA over the five-year period from FY26 through FY30, offering a multi-year growth pipeline that extends well beyond the current financial year.
To support this accelerated utilisation growth, NEXTDC has increased its FY26 capital expenditure guidance by A$300 million, now guiding total capex in a range of A$2,700 million to A$3,000 million, compared to the previous guidance of A$2,400 million to A$2,700 million. The company is accelerating planned inventory expansion and purchasing long-lead items to support the development of contracted utilisation at its S4 facility. This increased investment reflects management confidence in the demand outlook and signals aggressive capacity buildout to capture market opportunities.
A key aspect of this announcement is that NEXTDC has maintained its FY26 Net Revenue and Underlying EBITDA guidance despite the significant increase in capex. This suggests the company expects current operations to remain on track while it invests heavily in future growth, a balanced approach that indicates management has carefully assessed both near-term profitability and long-term strategic positioning.
For investors, this announcement demonstrates NEXTDC’s ability to win substantial customer contracts in a competitive market and its willingness to invest aggressively to capture the structural growth opportunity in data centre capacity. The forward visibility provided by the large Forward Order Book offers reassurance about the company’s growth trajectory. However, investors should monitor the company’s execution on the elevated capex program and watch for updates on how efficiently the Forward Order Book converts to revenue and EBITDA as the conversion process unfolds across FY26 to FY30.
The announcement represents a material development for the company and has been flagged as price sensitive by the ASX. Investors should assess the implications of this accelerated growth strategy for long-term shareholder returns and monitor upcoming quarterly updates for execution metrics on both the capex program and the Forward Order Book conversion timeline.
View the full ASX announcement (PDF)
About NEXTDC Limited (ASX: NXT)
NEXTDC Limited develops and operates data centers in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. The company offers data center colocation solutions, high-performance computing, disaster recovery services, and various digital infrastructure solutions to enterprise clients, government agencies, and cloud providers. Headquartered in Brisbane, Australia, NEXTDC provides critical connectivity and infrastructure services across its network of facilities.
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