NextDC (ASX: NXT) said on August 27 that contracted capacity tripled to 740.1 megawatts in its strongest contracting performance to date, while it returned to an A$82.1 million statutory profit for the year ended June 30, 2026, from an A$60.5 million loss in FY25. Contracted utilization rose 202%, billing utilization increased 58% to 175.0 MW and capital expenditure reached A$3.397 billion as the Australian data centre operator expanded to meet demand linked to the AI infrastructure boom. Net revenue rose 16% to A$405 million and underlying EBITDA increased 15% to A$248.8 million, exceeding analyst forecasts compiled by Visible Alpha. The statutory result was helped by a A$128.8 million fair-value gain after several customer contracts were treated as operating leases and related assets as investment property. NextDC’s water usage effectiveness ratio rose to 2.40 litres per kilowatt-hour from 2.25, while its power usage effectiveness ratio increased to 1.49 from 1.44; both measures worsened for a third consecutive year. The company attributed the higher ratios partly to newly commissioned capacity running cooling systems before full information-technology deployment and to data reconciliation that identified isolated leaks, utility meter anomalies and discrepancies between site and utility records. NextDC cited a 565.1 MW Forward Order Book, said its commitments were binding contracts rather than options or reservations, and highlighted power availability, equipment shortages, regulation and public opposition as constraints on converting booked AI demand into operating capacity.