Sydney, June 8, 2026, 07:04 AEST
NEXTDC Ltd (NXT.AX) starts the shortened week after dropping hard Friday, though shares stayed up for the week. Investors are watching how much appetite remains for Australia’s costly AI data-centre projects.
ASX won’t open Monday because of a national public holiday, according to the ASX’s 2026 calendar. Friday’s settlement stands as the most recent price, so the focus turns to what happened last week and what might move when trading picks up on Tuesday.
NEXTDC closed at A$15.86 on Friday, off A$0.51 or 3.12% for the session, but still up 4.07% from the week-ago level. The S&P/ASX 200 ended the day down 61 points, or 0.70%, to finish at 8,625.10, with banks and miners weighing on the index while some sectors managed gains.
Here’s why it matters to investors: NEXTDC isn’t just seen as a data-centre landlord anymore. The market is watching if it can actually turn those AI and cloud infrastructure deals into powered capacity that brings in revenue, and do it without pushing its balance sheet too much.
NEXTDC in April laid out a A$2.2 billion capital plan after pro forma contracted utilisation jumped 60% to 667 megawatts. The forward order book, which includes capacity that has been signed but not yet billing, climbed 83% to 544 megawatts. The company also expected contracted EBITDA to top A$1 billion.
NEXTDC lined up A$1.8 billion in new senior debt facilities, Reuters reported in May, pushing total available senior debt to A$8.2 billion. Estimated pro forma liquidity — cash and undrawn lines — moved up to about A$8.4 billion, with financial close eyed for July.
Chief Executive Craig Scroggie called the funding an execution play instead of a trophy move. “The market is moving quickly, but delivery is what matters,” he said. He added that projects only convert when “capital, power, land and networks” are lined up. NEXTDC
La Caisse, the Canadian investment group supporting part of NEXTDC’s funding effort, publicly backed the company’s plans. Emmanuel Jaclot, executive vice-president and head of infrastructure and sustainability at La Caisse, said the move should help NEXTDC’s construction program. He called it a “promising first step” toward more work together. NEXTDC
AirTrunk, the Sydney-based data centre operator owned by Blackstone and CPPIB, said Friday it plans to invest $30 billion in India by 2030 for 5 gigawatts of new capacity. CEO Robin Khuda described AI investment as “a global race” and said investors want “certainty, coordination and speed.” Reuters The sector is moving fast.
Megaport is looking for more funding. The listed AI-infrastructure company said last week it secured four AI infrastructure deals worth A$458.9 million. It plans to raise A$827.3 million to develop an inference cloud, which is used to run AI models near end users once training is finished. Vantage Markets analyst Hebe Chen said Megaport wants to be a “picks-and-shovels player” as AI spending ramps up. Reuters
But there’s a risk investors start seeing the buildout less as a growth play and more as a test of funding and delivery. Higher bond yields, weaker global tech names, delays hooking up power, project slippage or rising costs could all hit a company spending big before any future revenue. U.S. stocks just had their worst day since October, Nasdaq down 4.2% on Friday, setting up a tough offshore lead for ASX growth names when trading resumes.
Tuesday’s open will test if Friday’s 3.12% drop was only traders cutting risk ahead of the long weekend, or if it signals investors questioning AI infrastructure values. Focus turns from big headlines to execution. That means finishing the debt deal, making sure S4 Sydney and other builds hit their targets, and proving contracted megawatts actually show up in billed revenue.
