How's Equinix doing these days?
In our data center market deck, you will find everything you need to understand the market
SUMMARY
How's Equinix doing these days? Equinix is doing well right now, and the evidence is strong enough to say it directly: demand is still growing, AI is making the company more relevant, and the main risk has shifted from “can it grow?” to “can it execute under power, cooling, and capex constraints?”
The strongest signal is that growth is showing up in the actual numbers, not only in the AI story. In Q1 2026, Equinix grew revenue, recurring revenue, operating income, and AFFO at the same time, which makes the growth look healthier than a pure capacity-grab story.
Bookings matter here because they show customers are reserving future capacity before it is available. Record first-quarter bookings and record backlog suggest Equinix is still selling into demand, not trying to fill empty assets after the fact.
The AI story is more credible because Equinix is not only chasing giant training campuses. Its recent product moves point toward enterprise AI deployment problems: security, networking, sovereignty, compliance, testing environments, and hybrid infrastructure.
That makes inference a particularly important angle. Training can live in large remote clusters, but inference often needs proximity to users, applications, data, regulated environments, and cloud ecosystems, which fits Equinix’s historic interconnection strength.
Equinix’s moat still looks real, but it is being forced to evolve. Interconnection alone is no longer enough as a story; the company has to make that edge useful for AI, DORA-regulated workloads, data sovereignty, and partner-led enterprise deployments.
Power is now the biggest constraint around the upside. Equinix’s recent moves in Japan and the Nordics show it understands that the next phase of data-center growth is not just about land and buildings, but secured electricity, cooling, permits, and local acceptance.
The high-density AI question looks less worrying than it did a few years ago. Liquid-cooling capability across more than 100 IBX sites, Merck’s HPC proof point, the Cisco/NVIDIA collaboration, and atNorth’s liquid-cooling-enabled facilities all make Equinix sound more AI-ready than generic capacity owners.
The Hindenburg overhang has moved from live legal risk to investor watch item. The SEC investigation ended without planned enforcement action, but the original debate still reminds investors to keep watching power availability, capacity accounting, and AFFO quality.
Financially, Equinix looks like it is entering the AI capex cycle from a position of strength. Moody’s upgrade and the $1.5 billion senior-notes raise matter because AI infrastructure is becoming a capital-access race, not just a technology race.
Digital Realty is the right pressure test, but not proof that Equinix is falling behind. Digital Realty looks stronger on hyperscale momentum, while Equinix still has the cleaner story around enterprise AI, interconnection, network density, and regulated hybrid infrastructure.
So the current picture is positive but not easy. Equinix looks like one of the few data-center companies with enough demand, balance sheet, technical relevance, ecosystem depth, and power-aware expansion to play the next AI infrastructure phase seriously.
This market map, featured in our data center market deck, highlights top companies and startups in the data center market
Is Equinix still growing fast these days?
Equinix is still growing fast today, and the recent numbers look very strong.
It’s not just AI hype. The first thing we checked was whether demand is really showing up in the P&L. It is. In Q1 2026, Equinix grew revenue 10%, monthly recurring revenue 12%, operating income 26%, and AFFO 12%. That mix matters because it is not just top-line growth. Indeed, the company also improved profitability while growing.
The second thing we checked was whether customers are actually reserving future capacity. Here too, the signal is strong. Equinix said Q1 was its biggest first quarter ever for annualized gross bookings, and the quarter pushed backlog to a record level. Commercial Observer also put the quarterly bookings figure at $378 million, which helps anchor the scale.
Equinix currently looks like a business where demand is still arriving before capacity does. That is a much better setup than a company trying to fill empty buildings after the fact.
If you want more recent data on this point, please see our latest data center market report.
Is AI really helping Equinix now?
Yes. AI is clearly helping Equinix now, but the useful point is that it is helping through messy enterprise deployment, not only through giant AI training campuses.
The recent pattern is quite consistent. In March 2026, Equinix launched Distributed AI Hub with Palo Alto Networks. In April, it launched Fabric Intelligence. In May, it expanded Fabric Geo Zones for data sovereignty. In June, it announced the Cisco/NVIDIA Secure AI Factory work with Presidio. These press releases all point to the same pain: companies want AI, but they need security, networking, compliance, data control, and a place to test before they scale.
That is why the Cisco/NVIDIA/Presidio signal is more interesting than it looks. Equinix is giving customers a lab inside its data centers where they can test AI infrastructure before rolling it out.
That speaks directly to the current enterprise AI bottleneck: not “can we access a model?”, but rather “can we deploy this safely, close to our data, with the right network and security setup?”
So it looks like AI is becoming a real demand layer for Equinix, not just a marketing wrapper.
The company is positioning itself around the boring deployment problems that usually decide whether enterprise AI actually moves into production.
As this chart shows, and as featured in our data center market deck, search interest in data centers has increased significantly
Is Equinix getting more relevant for AI inference now?
Equinix looks more relevant for AI inference now because inference needs proximity, networking, and hybrid infrastructure more than one huge remote training site.
The signals line up well here. Equinix management is talking about AI, cloud, and networking demand together, not as separate buckets. Its Q1 release highlighted double-digit recurring revenue growth from those areas. Third-party earnings summaries also flagged demand shifting toward network outputs, cloud connectivity, and AI inference nodes in dense metros.
The customer-side logic makes sense. Training can happen in large centralized clusters, but inference often needs to sit closer to users, data, applications, regulated environments, and existing enterprise systems. That is exactly where Equinix has historically been strong: dense metros, interconnection, cloud on-ramps, carrier ecosystems, and hybrid deployments.
If you want more recent data on this point, please see our latest data center market report.
Is Equinix still ahead on interconnection, or is this becoming commodity data-center space?
Equinix still has a real interconnection edge, but these days it has to keep translating that edge into newer AI and compliance use cases.
The old Equinix story was simple: customers pay a premium because they can connect to clouds, carriers, partners, and each other in the same place. The recent evidence suggests Equinix knows that story needs a 2026 version. Fabric Intelligence, Fabric Geo Zones, Distributed AI Hub, and the Cisco/NVIDIA collaboration all put the network back at the center of the AI discussion.
The non-obvious signal is DORA. Equinix said it is one of only 19 critical ICT third-party providers designated under DORA so far. That is not a flashy AI metric, but it tells us regulators and financial institutions see Equinix as part of the critical infrastructure layer. For banks, insurers, trading firms, and regulated AI workloads, that kind of status can matter as much as raw capacity.
At the end of the day, Equinix still looks more differentiated than a generic landlord with power shells. The question is no longer whether interconnection matters but whether Equinix can keep making interconnection feel indispensable in AI, sovereignty, security, and regulated workloads. Recently, the product moves suggest it is doing exactly that.
This chart, featured in our data center market deck, illustrates yearly venture capital funding for data center startups
Is power becoming Equinix’s biggest headache now?
Yes. Power is probably the biggest thing to watch for Equinix now. It’s because demand is strong enough that the constraint shifts to electricity, permits, and grid politics.
The industry signal is blunt. Bloom Energy’s mid-year data-center power report says developers are being held back by power shortages, rising electricity prices, water concerns, grid reliability issues, and community scrutiny. It also says at least 18 state bills and 86 local moratoriums had been proposed in the U.S. by May 2026. Business Insider’s June 2026 permit analysis points in the same direction: data-center power use could jump 50% if permitted facilities come online, and local backlash is becoming more political.
Equinix is clearly reacting to that world. In February 2026, it signed a 15-year, 121 MW solar vPPA in Japan, described as the largest single-unit vPPA in Japan’s data-center sector. In February 2026, it also moved with CPP Investments to acquire atNorth, a Nordic platform with 1 GW of secured power and liquid-cooling-enabled facilities.
If you want more recent data on this point, please see our latest data center market report.
Is Equinix actually ready for high-density AI workloads now?
Equinix looks much more credible on high-density AI workloads than it did a few years ago.
The strongest signal is that liquid cooling is no longer theoretical for the company. Equinix says it has liquid-cooling capabilities in more than 100 IBX data centers across more than 45 metros. That is a useful scale marker because AI-ready capacity is not only about one flagship facility.
We also found customer and partner proof points. Merck’s November 2025 high-performance computing platform uses Lenovo liquid-cooled infrastructure inside an Equinix AI-ready data center in Germany. The Cisco/NVIDIA collaboration talks about specialized power and advanced cooling inside Equinix’s global footprint. And atNorth brings high-density Nordic facilities that are already liquid-cooling-enabled.
Finally, Equinix now looks like it can credibly tell enterprises: “You do not need to rebuild everything yourself to run AI infrastructure.” That is the more practical sell. The company may not be the loudest name in mega-scale AI campuses, but for enterprise HPC, hybrid AI, and regulated high-density workloads, it has real proof.
This chart, featured in our data center market deck, shows how Equinix is capturing share in data centers
Is the old Hindenburg issue still a problem for Equinix?
The Hindenburg issue is much less dangerous for Equinix today, although it still leaves one useful investor lesson: keep watching capacity and AFFO quality.
The overhang was real. Hindenburg had accused Equinix of accounting manipulation and of oversubscribing power capacity. That second accusation was especially sensitive because power is now the core bottleneck in the whole data-center market. After the report, Equinix received attention from the SEC and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California.
The important update is that the SEC ended its investigation in November 2025 without planning enforcement action. Equinix also said it did not expect further related action from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Separately, the shareholder class action was resolved through a $41.5 million settlement.
So we can mostly move this from “active existential risk” to “watch item.” The market should not ignore what the short report forced everyone to examine, but the legal threat looks far smaller now than it did in 2024.
Is Equinix getting stronger financially, or is AI making it spend too much?
Equinix looks financially stronger right now, even though the AI buildout is making the capital cycle heavier.
The cleanest outside signal is Moody’s. In March 2026, Moody’s upgraded Equinix’s senior unsecured rating to Baa1 with a stable outlook. The reason matters: demand for data-center capacity, global scale, customer diversity, liquidity, and a rising owned-asset base. That is exactly what investors want to see when a company needs to fund more capacity.
Equinix also closed $1.5 billion of senior notes in March 2026, with 2031 and 2033 maturities. This is not exciting in a product sense, but it is important. AI infrastructure is becoming a capital-access race, and Equinix can still borrow at scale while smaller or more levered operators may struggle.
Equinix is spending into a big cycle, but it is not funding that cycle from a weak position. The current balance-sheet signal is closer to “credible infrastructure compounder” than “AI capex panic.”
If you want more recent data on this point, please see our latest data center market report.
This chart, featured in our data center market deck, illustrates yearly funding for data center startups
Is Equinix changing its team for this new phase?
Yes. Equinix has been changing the team in ways that match the current problem: AI, partners, revenue execution, and finance discipline.
The CFO change is the obvious one. Olivier Leonetti joined as CFO in March 2026 after Keith Taylor’s planned retirement, bringing finance experience from infrastructure and technology-heavy companies. That matters because Equinix is entering a period where capital allocation, construction timing, and funding cost matter a lot.
The less obvious signal is partner and AI talent. Yang Song joined in late 2025 as Chief Data Science and AI Officer. Gordon Mackintosh, a former Juniper/HPE channel leader, joined to run global partner sales and has already been publishing around partner execution, DORA, resilience, and critical digital workloads. Shane Paladin, who joined in 2025 as Chief Customer and Revenue Officer, is also writing publicly about enterprise AI infrastructure.
Put together, this does not look like random executive churn. It looks like Equinix is staffing around the actual go-to-market problem: enterprises will buy AI infrastructure through trusted partners, security vendors, cloud ecosystems, and compliance-heavy workflows. Equinix is trying to be the platform underneath that motion.
Is Equinix falling behind Digital Realty now?
Equinix is not falling behind Digital Realty, but Digital Realty is making the comparison much more serious.
Digital Realty had a very strong Q1 2026. It signed $707 million of annualized GAAP base-rent bookings at 100% share, reported a $1.8 billion backlog, and raised its 2026 Core FFO outlook. It also called out the largest hyperscale lease in company history. That is a clear reminder that Equinix is not the only scaled public winner from AI demand.
But the two companies are not telling exactly the same story. Digital Realty is showing huge hyperscale momentum. Equinix is leaning harder into enterprise AI, interconnection, network density, security, sovereignty, and partner-led deployments. That difference matters because hyperscale AI capacity can become a brutal race for land, power, and capital, while Equinix’s strongest economics usually come from being the connective layer between many customers and ecosystems.
So, for now, Equinix is not losing the race. Rather, we could say it is running a different race. Digital Realty is the better pressure test for hyperscale demand, while Equinix still has the cleaner story around distributed enterprise infrastructure.
If you want more recent data on this point, please see our latest data center market report.
This chart, featured in our data center market deck, compares the main business model options for hyperscale data center operators
Is Equinix still expanding in the right places?
Equinix is still expanding, and lately the expansion looks more power-aware than geography-for-geography’s-sake.
The atNorth deal is the best example. Equinix and CPP Investments agreed to buy the Nordic operator for about $4 billion, with CPP owning roughly 60% and Equinix roughly 40%. The reason it matters is not just “Nordics are growing.” atNorth brings operations across Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, plus 1 GW of secured power, renewable-energy sourcing, heat reuse, and liquid-cooling-enabled facilities.
Japan tells the same story from another angle. The 121 MW solar vPPA is about securing renewable coverage in a difficult procurement market. Brazil and Hong Kong add another layer: Equinix is adding AI-ready capacity and ecosystem programs in markets where enterprise demand, latency, and regional infrastructure matter.
So the recent expansion story is pretty healthy. Equinix is not only chasing the obvious U.S. AI campus boom. Instead, it is adding capacity where power, cooling, sovereignty, connectivity, and enterprise demand can fit together.
How is Equinix doing these days?
Equinix is doing well right now, and the recent evidence is strong enough to say that without hiding behind cautious consultant language.
The company has real growth, not just a good narrative: Q1 2026 revenue up 10%, MRR up 12%, AFFO up 12%, record Q1 bookings, record backlog, raised full-year guidance, and a Moody’s upgrade. Around that, it has built a more interesting AI story than the obvious “data centers are hot” one: Distributed AI Hub, Fabric Intelligence, Fabric Geo Zones, Cisco/NVIDIA/Presidio, Merck HPC, liquid cooling, atNorth, DORA, and power procurement.
The tension is also clear. Equinix’s next problem is not demand but execution under constraint: power, cooling, permitting, capex timing, local resistance, and competition from Digital Realty and private AI infrastructure vehicles.
But today, after digging through the recent signals, Equinix looks like one of the few data-center companies with enough demand, balance sheet, partner ecosystem, and technical relevance to play this next AI infrastructure phase seriously.
This chart, featured in our data center market deck, shows the revenue mix across customer segments in the data center market
| Question | Answer | Signals checked |
|---|---|---|
| Is Equinix still growing fast these days? | Yes. Equinix is still converting demand into real revenue and cash flow. | Q1 2026 revenue +10%; MRR +12%; operating income +26%; AFFO +12%; record Q1 bookings; record backlog; raised guidance |
| Is AI really helping Equinix now? | Yes. AI is helping through enterprise deployment problems, not only GPU campus hype. | Distributed AI Hub; Fabric Intelligence; Fabric Geo Zones; Cisco/NVIDIA/Presidio lab; Palo Alto Networks integration |
| Is Equinix more relevant for AI inference now? | Yes. Equinix fits the inference shift because inference needs proximity and connectivity. | Dense metro footprint; network outputs; cloud connectivity; AI inference nodes; recurring revenue strength in AI/cloud/networking |
| Is Equinix still ahead on interconnection? | Yes, but the moat now needs to show up in AI, sovereignty, and regulated workloads. | Fabric Intelligence; Geo Zones; Distributed AI Hub; DORA CTPP designation; partner-led AI deployments |
| Is power Equinix’s biggest headache now? | Yes. Power is the main constraint around the growth story. | 121 MW Japan vPPA; atNorth 1 GW secured power; Bloom power report; 18 state bills; 86 local moratoriums; BI power-use analysis |
| Is Equinix ready for high-density AI? | Mostly yes. The company has credible liquid-cooling and HPC proof points. | 100+ liquid-cooling-enabled IBX sites; 45+ metros; Merck/Lenovo HPC in Germany; Cisco/NVIDIA cooling language; atNorth liquid cooling |
| Is Hindenburg still a problem for Equinix? | Much less. It is now more of a watch item than a live legal threat. | SEC closed investigation; no expected further U.S. Attorney action; $41.5M shareholder settlement; original power-oversubscription accusation |
| Is Equinix financially stronger now? | Yes. The balance-sheet signal is positive despite heavier capex. | Moody’s Baa1 upgrade; stable outlook; $1.5B senior notes; liquidity and owned-asset rationale |
| Is Equinix changing its team? | Yes. The hires match AI, partners, revenue, and finance execution. | Olivier Leonetti CFO; Yang Song AI leader; Gordon Mackintosh partner sales; Shane Paladin customer/revenue; recent partner/DORA blog activity |
| Is Equinix falling behind Digital Realty? | No. Digital Realty is strong, but Equinix has a different edge. | DLR $707M bookings; DLR $1.8B backlog; largest hyperscale lease; Equinix stronger interconnection/enterprise AI angle |
| Is Equinix expanding in the right places? | Yes. Recent expansion is more power-aware and AI-use-case-led. | atNorth Nordics deal; 1 GW secured power; Japan vPPA; Hong Kong AI hub; Germany HPC; Brazil AI-ready capacity |
This chart, featured in our data center market deck, shows how hyperscale AI-ready campus technology has evolved over time
OUR METHODOLOGY
This analysis tests how Equinix is doing today based on the evidence available now. We compare the company’s recent operating performance with its AI product launches, interconnection position, power strategy, cooling capabilities, legal overhang, financing signals, leadership changes, competitive pressure, and expansion choices.
We started from a simple point: the answer to “How is Equinix doing?” is not obvious from one headline, one quarter, or one AI narrative. Instead of relying on broad market sentiment, we broke the question into the dimensions that actually decide the answer: growth, AI relevance, inference, interconnection, power, cooling, legal risk, financial strength, leadership, competition, and expansion.
For each dimension, we looked for recent signals that showed something concrete. We prioritized fresh operating data, bookings, backlog, product launches, partner activity, infrastructure capacity, regulatory status, financing signals, and public competitor benchmarks.
Equinix’s Q1 2026 results were used as the main operating anchor because they include revenue growth, monthly recurring revenue growth, AFFO growth, bookings, backlog, and updated guidance. We treat those figures as stronger evidence than broad AI-market commentary because they show whether demand is actually flowing into the business.
The AI analysis relies on Equinix’s recent enterprise-infrastructure moves, including Distributed AI Hub, Fabric Intelligence, Fabric Geo Zones, the Cisco/NVIDIA/Presidio Secure AI Factory collaboration, and AI Discovery Hub activity in Hong Kong. We use these signals to understand where Equinix is positioning itself inside the AI infrastructure stack.
The power and high-density analysis uses Equinix’s Japan solar vPPA, the atNorth acquisition, the company’s liquid-cooling rollout, Merck’s high-performance-computing deployment, and broader power-market evidence from Bloom Energy and Business Insider. This helps separate generic AI optimism from the physical constraints that now shape data-center growth.
The legal-overhang section treats the Hindenburg issue as a former active risk and a current watch item. We used Equinix’s SEC filing on the conclusion of the investigation and the official securities-settlement materials to understand how much of the overhang remains.
The financial-strength section uses Moody’s March 2026 rating upgrade and Equinix’s $1.5 billion senior-notes offering. Those sources matter because the AI infrastructure cycle is increasingly a funding and execution race, not only a demand story.
The competitive section uses Digital Realty’s Q1 2026 results as the main public benchmark. We compare the two companies because Digital Realty’s bookings, backlog, and hyperscale momentum are the clearest pressure test for Equinix’s current position.
Key sources used for this analysis include: Equinix Q1 2026 results, Equinix investor financial information, Equinix Distributed AI Hub, Equinix Fabric Intelligence, Equinix Fabric Geo Zones, Equinix, Cisco, NVIDIA, and Presidio Secure AI Factory collaboration, European Supervisory Authorities DORA CTPP designation, Equinix Japan 121 MW solar vPPA, Bloom Energy 2026 Data Center Power Report, Bloom Energy press release on power constraints, Business Insider on data-center permits and power demand, Equinix liquid-cooling rollout, Merck one-HPC platform, Equinix, Lenovo, and Merck high-performance supercomputer announcement, Equinix and CPP Investments atNorth acquisition, CPP Investments atNorth acquisition announcement, Equinix SEC filing on the concluded investigation, Equinix securities settlement materials, Moody’s upgrade of Equinix to Baa1, Equinix $1.5 billion senior-notes closing, Equinix CFO appointment, Digital Realty Q1 2026 results, and Equinix AI Discovery Hub in Hong Kong.
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