NEXTDC (ASX:NXT) Surges 8% on OpenAI Partnership and $7B AI Campus Plan

NEXTDC Signs MOU with OpenAI

NEXTDC (ASX:NXT) surged 8% today after announcing that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with OpenAI, making it one of Australia’s leading data centre companies to partner directly with the global AI leader. The agreement forms part of the OpenAI for Australia program and aims to develop a sovereign AI infrastructure partnership.

At the core of this plan is the construction of a next-generation hyperscale AI campus and a large-scale GPU supercluster at NEXTDC’s S7 site in Eastern Creek, Sydney. This facility is expected to support enormous GPU clusters and represents a major seven-billion-dollar data centre development capable of delivering 650 megawatts of compute power.

In addition to the OpenAI announcement, NEXTDC also released a major capex and utilisation update. Contracted utilisation, the amount of capacity already sold, jumped 29% to 316 MW, up from 71 MW since June 2025. This is a huge uplift in a short period, signalling accelerating demand from hyperscale customers and AI workloads.

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NEXTDC Accelerates Buildout

Their forward order book, which represents future contracted demand, also rose sharply by 53% to 205 MW. This capacity will be billed progressively through FY26 to FY29, giving the company a growing backlog of locked-in revenue. In other words, demand is not only strong today, but it is continuing to build well into the second half of the decade.

In response to these demand trends, NEXTDC announced that its FY26 capex has increased by A$400 million, bringing the total to a range of A$2.2 to A$2.4 billion. This likely accounts for the new build-outs, expansion phases, and infrastructure partnerships now underway. The company also noted that capacity is being filled far faster than expected, driven primarily by hyperscale cloud deployments and energy-intensive AI computing requirements.

The additional A$400 million in capex effectively signals management’s confidence in continued growth. NEXTDC is pulling future projects forward to meet demand, a classic sign that the market opportunity is expanding faster than originally forecast.

OpenAI Turns to Australia Amid Global Rivalry

What we’ve seen across the broader AI landscape is that competition around OpenAI is heating up fast. The company is facing cutthroat pressure from Google, Amazon, Anthropic, and even major Chinese players like DeepSeek. Reports suggest that OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman has declared a “code red” internally as the company tries to regain technical leadership from Google’s Gemini 3 and Anthropic’s Claude models. Yet despite this intense rivalry, OpenAI is actively hunting for strategic partnerships, and Australia has emerged as one of those key opportunities.

Investors takeaway for NXT

For investors in NEXTDC, partnering with OpenAI gives the company early leverage into the global AI wave, especially as Australia’s domestic demand continues to climb. With contracted utilisation already at 316 MW and a further 205 MW locked into the forward backlog, NEXTDC’s future earnings outlook is becoming increasingly predictable. The uplift in FY26 capex guidance highlights the scale of the opportunity ahead, but it also means capital management will be critical.

The data centre industry is known for heavy and sometimes undisciplined spending, yet NEXTDC appears to be approaching this expansion with a clear and disciplined strategy. The company is building capacity ahead of accelerating demand, but doing so in a way that remains aligned with long-term utilisation and revenue visibility.