Equinix plans $5B-$7B annual data center buildout amid AI demand

Equinix just told the market it plans to spend roughly twice what it previously expected on building out data centers. The global REIT raised its 2026 capital expenditure guidance to $5B-$6B, up from a prior range of $3B-$4B, and projected annual spending of $5B-$7B for 2027 through 2029. The numbers behind the buildout Equinix disclosed the revised spending plans during its Q2 2026 earnings report and reiterated the figures at a Bank of America REIT conference in mid-September 2026. CEO Adaire Fox-Martin and SVP of Global Real Estate Stu Thompson pointed to surging demand for higher-density, interconnected capacity designed to support AI inference workloads as the primary catalyst. The company currently controls roughly 3 GW of developable powered land. Between 600 and 770 MW of that is actively under development, with an aim to push total capacity toward 1 GW by early 2027. About 80% of the planned investment will flow into the top 25 global metropolitan areas, which face the tightest supply constraints and offer the highest interconnection density. Approximately 30% of Equinix’s remaining 2026 retail capacity has already been pre-sold. The company’s churn rate sits at 1.8%, and ...