Between December 2025 and March 2026, NEXTDC’s S4 data centre in Western Sydney added another 250MW of contracted capacity, pushing the site’s total committed load to 667MW, a roughly 60% increase in just a few months.
The forward order book hit 544MW, up 83% in the same window. Those aren’t numbers that appear in a slow business.
The story of NEXTDC’s stock growth on the ASX is partly one of patience rewarded and partly one of timing colliding with a structural shift in how the world processes information.
Artificial intelligence needs power. Power needs cooling. Cooling needs purpose-built infrastructure. NEXTDC builds infrastructure.
The 250MW Quarter That Forced a A$1.5 Billion Capital Raise
NEXTDC went into a trading halt on 20 April 2026 before unveiling a fully underwritten entitlement offer priced at A$12.70 a share. The raise is expected to bring in roughly A$1.5 billion, with most of that money set aside for expanding its data centre footprint.
The company wasn’t raising to cover losses. It raised because demand had outrun its own construction timeline.
Chief Executive Officer Craig Scroggie described the rationale directly: the raise was designed to “materially expand NEXTDC’s contracted capacity and de-risk the Company’s Western Sydney developments ahead of potential strategic partnership transactions with private capital partners from 2027.”
That last part is the structural tell. Once S4 is contracted and built, the plan is to bring in joint venture partners to share the asset.
That’s the playbook used globally by hyperscale infrastructure operators to recycle capital and crystallise value.
S4, the company’s campus in Western Sydney, sits at 71% contracted against its 350MW design capacity. Capital expenditure guidance for FY27 alone has been set at approximately A$5.0 billion.
NEXTDC contracted utilisation grew 60% in a single quarter, reaching 667MW as at 31 March 2026.
Record 1H26 Results Back the NXT Growth Story
NEXTDC’s February numbers were solid, although not exactly the sort of results that scream “finished product.” The company is still very much in build mode.
The company’s latest half-year numbers showed the business is still growing at a decent pace, even if profitability remains out of reach for now. For the six months to 31 December 2025, net revenue rose 13% to A$189.2 million, while total revenue hit A$231.8 million. Underlying EBITDA improved 9% to A$115.3 million. NEXTDC still posted a loss after tax, although it narrowed slightly to A$39.4 million.
The company is still reporting a loss. That should not be swept aside. But the losses reflect the volume of capital being put to work, not a shortage of customers.
The more significant figure sits elsewhere. NEXTDC’s total contracted utilisation of 667MW, once fully deployed into billing through to FY29, is expected to generate more than A$1.0 billion in EBITDA.
The midpoint of FY26 EBITDA guidance is A$235 million. That gap between today’s earnings and contracted future earnings is the investment thesis in a single comparison.
What stands out more is the longer trend. Back in 2016, the company was bringing in about A$89 million a year in revenue. By FY25, it had reached A$427 million. Management now expects FY26 net revenue to land somewhere between A$390 million and A$400 million.
NEXTDC Annual Revenue Growth (AUD millions, FY16 to FY25)
OpenAI Signed an MOU. That’s Not Nothing.
In December 2025, NEXTDC and OpenAI confirmed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop an A$7 billion hyperscale AI campus and large-scale GPU supercluster at the S7 site in Sydney’s Eastern Creek precinct, 45 kilometres west of Sydney’s CBD.
S7 sits outside the current build cycle. S4 comes first. But global AI companies don’t commit to multi-billion-dollar infrastructure arrangements with operators that lack a track record of delivery.
Before that, in January 2026, the Victorian government approved NEXTDC’s A$2.0 billion M4 Melbourne campus at Fishermans Bend.
By early May 2026, the company secured A$1.8 billion in new senior debt commitments from a syndicate of domestic and international banks. Combined with the entitlement offer and hybrid securities proceeds, pro forma liquidity reached approximately A$6.6 billion.
NEXTDC operates 17 data centres across Australia as at March 2026, with sites in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Canberra, Adelaide, Darwin, and the Sunshine Coast, alongside sites under evaluation in Tokyo, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore.
Is NEXTDC a Good Investment on the ASX in 2026? The Analyst View
The market has clearly noticed. As of 28 May 2026, NEXTDC shares were trading around A$15.20, roughly 23% higher than where they started the year. Over the past 12 months, the stock has moved between A$10.91 and A$18.22, giving the company a market value of about A$10.7 billion.
Analyst sentiment is about as one-sided as it gets. Investing.com data shows 14 Buy ratings on the stock and zero Sells. The average 12-month price target is approximately A$20.22, about 33% above where the shares trade today.
Citi holds a price target of A$18.00. Goldman Sachs maintains a Buy rating with a price target of A$13.60, which the stock has already exceeded. Revenue is forecast to grow at approximately 26% per annum over the coming years.
The bear case isn’t hard to state. NEXTDC is loss-making, capital-intensive, and dependent on contracted capacity that won’t fully enter the billing line until FY29.
The April raise diluted existing shareholders. FY27 capex at approximately A$5.0 billion is a large commitment for a company still running losses. Execution risk at this scale is not theoretical.
The supply context in Australia matters here. Per McKinsey data cited in NEXTDC’s own April 2026 announcement, Australian data centre demand is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of over 21%, rising from approximately 1.5 gigawatts in CY25 to approximately 3.9GW by CY30.
A near-term supply shortfall of approximately 400MW is already visible for CY26. NEXTDC is one of the very few operators in Australia capable of building at hyperscale, and it now holds contracted demand at a scale four times its current annual EBITDA run rate.
NEXTDC Forward Order Book vs Billing Utilisation (as at 31 March 2026)
That’s what the NEXTDC, an ASX growth stock, debate in Australia ultimately comes down to. Not whether the business is profitable today. Whether the contracted pipeline is real. And on that question, the forward order book, the signed capacity, and the A$7 billion OpenAI MOU all say the same thing.
Also Read: Yancoal Australia AGM 2026: Growth Strategy and Market Outlook
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is NEXTDC?
A: NEXTDC is Australia’s largest independent data centre operator.
Q: Is NEXTDC a good investment in 2026?
A: Analyst coverage currently leans heavily bullish, with 14 Buy ratings and an average price target near A$20.22.
Q: Does NEXTDC pay dividends?
A: No. NEXTDC does not currently pay dividends.
Q: Why is NEXTDC still reporting losses?
A: The losses reflect the scale of capital expenditure required to build new data centre capacity.
Q: What is driving demand for NEXTDC’s data centres?
A: Mostly AI and cloud infrastructure are driving demand.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. NEXTDC Limited (ASX: NXT) shares involve risk. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Readers should consider seeking independent financial advice before making any investment decisions. Colitco does not hold any position in NEXTDC Limited.
Source: https://www.asx.com.au/markets/trade-our-cash-market/announcements.nxt
Tags: ASX:NXT, Data, Data Centres, NEXTDC Last modified: May 30, 2026
