Key Earnings Metrics

Equinix delivered its strongest quarter of total sales activity on record, with recurring revenue growth at the high end of expectations and margin expansion continuing. The company also crossed a milestone as quarterly AFFO surpassed $1 billion for the first time.

• Total revenue: $2.4 billion, up 8% YoY. This includes the timing shift of the xScale Hampton lease, which moved from Q1 to Q2 but does not change full-year economics.
• Recurring revenue: $2.3 billion, up 10% YoY on a normalized constant-currency basis. This is the second consecutive quarter of double-digit MRR growth, reflecting conversion of prior bookings into recognized revenue.
• Adjusted EBITDA: $1.2 billion, up 13% YoY, with a 51% margin, up 300 bps YoY. Margin gains came from cost discipline and operating leverage as capacity scaled.
• AFFO: Surpassed $1 billion for the first time, up 11% YoY. AFFO per share reached $10.79, up 10% YoY.
• Annualized growth bookings: $378 million, up 9% YoY, with approximately $140 million in pre-selling activity on top. Total sales activity rose 35% YoY, producing a record backlog.
• Interconnection revenue: Up 9% YoY, with Fabric revenue up 26% YoY and Fabric bookings up 70% YoY. Large-capacity Equinix Fabric connections have tripled compared to a year ago.

The margin story matters because it shows Equinix is scaling capacity without diluting returns. Adjusted EBITDA margin expansion of 300 bps came alongside record sales, suggesting pricing power and density gains are offsetting the cost of new builds.

AFFO crossing $1 billion is a meaningful threshold for a REIT-style infrastructure operator. It gives Equinix more internally generated capital to fund expansion without leaning as heavily on external financing, especially relevant as the company pursues the atnNorth acquisition and its broader xScale pipeline.

Management Commentary

CEO Adair Fox-Martin framed the quarter around a shift in customer conversations. A year ago, enterprises were piloting AI. Now, the focus is on enterprise-wide adoption at scale, with inference becoming a real-time decision-making engine and agentic AI moving from demonstrations into distributed deployments.

Management argued that most enterprise networks are not built for these workflows. Agents need private, low-latency paths to data, perform best at the edge, and must move across models and clouds while respecting jurisdictional boundaries. Equinix is positioning its distributed, interconnected footprint as the architectural answer to that gap.

Roughly 60% of the largest deals in Q1 were AI-related, consistent with the prior quarter. Eight of the top 10 AI model providers and four of the top five Neo-clouds are actively expanding with Equinix, placing more than 110 separate network nodes to support latency-sensitive workloads.

New CFO Olivier Leonetti, who joined in March from Eaton, emphasized capital discipline and balance sheet strength. He highlighted the $1.5 billion senior notes issuance at a 3.1% blended effective rate as evidence of Equinix's ability to access low-cost capital across global markets.

On energy, management noted that Equinix is more than 90% hedged for 2026, limiting exposure to Middle East-driven price volatility. The expectation is minimal impact to 2026 results even if energy prices remain elevated.

Strategic Implications

The atnNorth acquisition, signed jointly with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, adds approximately 800 MW of pipeline capacity in the Nordics over the next five years. This extends Equinix's footprint in sustainability-focused markets and is expected to be immediately accretive to AFFO per share upon closing.

The Distributed AI Hub, introduced at NVIDIA GTC, is designed to give enterprises a single private, low-latency connection to the broader AI ecosystem. Unlike provider-built marketplaces, Equinix emphasizes neutrality, giving customers access to competing models and clouds without vendor lock-in.

Fabric Intelligence is the other notable product launch. It monitors network performance in real time, automatically adjusts configurations, and flags anomalies before they become outages. Because it is built directly into the Fabric interconnection platform rather than layered on top, Equinix sees it as a structural advantage given its more than 500,000 live interconnections.

The self-service portal continues to scale, with 20,000 orders placed in Q1, up 12% YoY. This matters operationally because portal orders are lower-friction and lower-cost than traditional quote-based ordering, supporting margin expansion over time.

Capacity expansion remains aggressive. Equinix has 46 major projects underway across 32 markets, including six xScale projects. More than 70% of retail expansion CapEx is concentrated in major metros, and approximately 25% of 2026 retail capacity expansion is already sold.

The xScale Hampton lease timing shift is worth noting. The expanded terms, which include approximately $80 million in revenue, $65 million in AFFO, and $0.65 in AFFO per share, moved from Q1 to Q2. Full-year economics are unchanged, but the shift creates a higher Q2 comparison and should be modeled accordingly.

Guidance was raised across the board. Full-year total revenue growth is now 10%-11%, up 100 bps. Adjusted EBITDA guidance increased by $24 million, targeting approximately 51% margin. AFFO growth is now 10%-12%, up 100 bps, with AFFO per share growth at 9%-11%, also up 100 bps. Q2 MRR growth is guided at 10%-11% YoY.

What to Watch Next

I would watch four things over the next two quarters:

• atnNorth closing: The acquisition adds 800 MW of Nordic pipeline and is expected to be immediately AFFO per share accretive. Closing timing and integration execution will shape the 2027 capacity narrative.
• Fabric bookings momentum: Fabric bookings were up 70% YoY and large-capacity connections have tripled year-over-year. If attach rates keep rising, interconnection revenue could become a larger share of the growth mix.
• Churn trajectory: Q1 churn came in at 1.7%, partly due to delayed churn. Management is tracking toward the low end of the 2%-2.5% full-year range, but any catch-up later in the year would pressure MRR growth.
• xScale Hampton economics: The expanded lease terms shift into Q2, adding roughly $80 million in revenue and $0.65 in AFFO per share. Confirming that signing closes as expected will validate the full-year guidance raise.

Related coverage

• Salesforce Q1 FY2027: Revenue $11.13B, Agentforce ARR Crosses $1B
• Amazon Q2 2026: $200.6B Revenue, AWS Grows 36.7%, CapEx Raised to $220B