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NEXTDC books 565.1 MW, options excluded

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NEXTDC reported 565.1 MW of binding forward orders on 27 August, then named the options, reservations and letters of intent the figure leaves out.

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Key takeaway

NEXTDC's 565.1 MW excludes options and letters of intent, and most of it bills by FY28.

NEXTDC reported 565.1 MW of forward orders in its FY26 results on 27 August, defined as binding contracted commitments, then listed what the number leaves out: options, reservations, letters of intent, memoranda of understanding and sales pipeline ¹. The Australian operator builds and leases colocation space, the model in which a landlord supplies power, cooling and floor while customers install their own equipment.

An order book records work customers have contracted for but have not yet been billed for. NEXTDC dated the conversion as well, with 197 MW scheduled to reach billing in FY27 and a further 221 MW in FY28, against FY27 capital expenditure guidance of A$5.25bn to A$5.75bn. Around three quarters of the book turns into invoices inside two years, which concentrates construction and grid-connection risk in a narrow window and spends the capital well before the revenue arrives.

Set that beside the looser measure the sector runs on. Synergy Research counted a 45 GW United States pipeline across 74 companies in July , a total that sweeps in everything NEXTDC has just excluded. The two figures describe different things and cannot be laid side by side, however alike the framing looks. Publishing an exclusion list is what makes the difference legible to anyone reading the accounts rather than the press release.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

When a company says it has 565.1 MW of "forward orders", that sounds like a solid number, but NEXTDC has been unusually clear that this only counts contracts customers are legally bound to pay for, not looser interest like options or letters of intent. Most of that capacity will not start earning money for the company until 2027 or 2028.

Deep Analysis

Root Causes

Colocation operators compete for investor capital partly on the size of their order book, which creates pressure to quote the broadest possible pipeline figure. NEXTDC's decision to define forward orders narrowly, and then list what is excluded, runs against that incentive.

It reflects Australian listed-company disclosure rules, which expose a company to shareholder claims if a headline figure is later shown to include non-binding interest, more than it reflects a sector norm; most colocation operators elsewhere blend binding and non-binding demand into a single pipeline number.

Sources:NEXTDC

Mentions:Australia →United States →Synergy Research Group →

First Reported In

Update #14 · Brazil bill ties tax break to a water cap

NEXTDC· 8 Sept 2026

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Causes and effects

Caused by

GE Vernova backlog hits 116 GW

Synergy's looser 45 GW US pipeline count is the measure NEXTDC's binding 565.1 MW order book is explicitly set against.

Occurred 23 Jul 2026

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This Event

NEXTDC books 565.1 MW, options excluded

An operator's own definition of its order book now separates binding commitments from the softer measures the sector usually quotes.

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