TL:DR
- AI adoption is transforming enterprise data center needs, requiring distributed infrastructure for training, inference & sensitive processing workloads.
- Equinix Distributed AI™ framework enables customers to place AI workloads optimally while privately connecting with ecosystem partners on demand.
- Fabric Intelligence will deliver AI-driven network automation with real-time awareness, helping enterprises scale multicloud AI initiatives efficiently.
As we approach the end of the year, it’s only natural to pause and reflect on everything that happened in the last 12 months. For me, 2025 was filled with excitement, change and personal growth. I took the role of Chief Customer and Revenue Officer at Equinix in July. In the months since, I’ve dedicated myself to learning everything I can about our business and listening to what customers have to say.
Joining Equinix felt like being drafted onto a winning team. I found myself surrounded by people who are intensely proud of everything this company has accomplished—and rightfully so. Those same people were very generous with their time and willing to candidly answer any questions I had. It’s because of them that I was able to get up to speed quickly about the challenges facing our customers, such as deploying the distributed multicloud infrastructure that today’s AI technologies demand. Now, I’m turning my attention to what’s next.
Preparing for change ahead
While 2025 was a year of learning for me personally, it was a year defined by strong financial results for the company overall. Most recently, this includes the robust revenue and profitability we announced for Q3 2025. But as far as I’m concerned, those results are old news. No matter how successful we are today, we can never stop thinking about tomorrow.
We must avoid complacency because our customers’ needs are always changing, and we can only succeed when our customers succeed. They now need to process more data in more places and transfer growing datasets quickly and securely, all while meeting compliance requirements and pursuing sustainability goals. Meeting all these needs can be difficult, but we’re here to make it easier.
Change is inevitable; the only question is whether you change or you let change happen to you. Our customers know this all too well. They’re dealing with constant transformation in their industries, whether it’s managing the deluge of new healthcare data from patient monitoring devices or pursuing advanced financial services applications like algorithmic trading. The common thread across all industries is that AI adoption is transforming how enterprises use data centers.
It’s safe to say that data centers are having a moment. You need only glance at the headlines to see that more people are starting to recognize the key role that data centers play in enabling the digital economy. But here’s the thing about moments: They don’t last forever.
Business school textbooks are filled with examples of companies that had a moment. Many of those companies are now a shell of their former selves—if they exist at all—because they allowed complacency to creep in. In nature, it’s not the strongest animals that are most likely to survive; it’s the most adaptable. The same is true in the business world. You can be the best at what you do, but it won’t count for much if it no longer meets the needs of your customers.
To help our customers meet their changing needs, here are some of our top priorities going into 2026:
- Expanding capacity globally
- Enabling interconnected, distributed AI infrastructure
- Providing the speed and ease our customers expect
Expanding capacity globally
Capitalizing on the AI opportunity will require more data processing muscle in more places. We’re investing now to make sure our customers are prepared to meet this need. We currently have about 3 gigawatts of new data center capacity under development. However, this is only the beginning: Our plan is to double our total data center capacity by 2029.
Our customers don’t just need AI infrastructure in a few core locations. As they pursue advanced AI use cases in 2026 and beyond, they’ll require infrastructure at the edge to meet requirements like low latency and data sovereignty. That’s why we’re pursuing expansion in many different markets globally.
In September 2025, we officially entered Chennai, our 77th global metro. We also have a total of 20 projects scheduled to open in 2026. This includes new data centers as well as redevelopments and expansions of existing facilities. These projects are happening throughout the world, from São Paulo to Istanbul to Hong Kong.
Enabling interconnected, distributed AI infrastructure
Just as businesses need AI infrastructure in different markets, they need different kinds of AI infrastructure to support different AI workloads. Also, they’re turning to a growing roster of partners that provide AI datasets, models and infrastructure solutions. That’s why we’ve announced our new Equinix Distributed AI™ framework, which is designed to help customers build simplified, scalable infrastructure that’s tailored to their business needs. It will enable them to place the right AI workloads in the right places:
- Training workloads where compute is abundant
- Inference workloads near data sources
- Sensitive processing where data privacy and sovereignty can be protected
Equinix is dedicated to being the place where AI ecosystems come together. Inside an Equinix data center, customers can easily find and connect to the partners they need to make their AI initiatives a success. This includes everyone from established hyperscalers to emerging neoclouds like Groq and Nebius.
We’re also optimizing private connectivity for AI. We recently announced Fabric Intelligence, an AI-driven control plane that enhances our Equinix Fabric® interconnection solution with real-time awareness and automation for AI and multicloud workloads. This will help our customers get their AI data where it needs to go, quickly and securely.
Providing the speed and ease our customers expect
Giving our customers the technology they need is not enough. We’re also striving to improve operational efficiency and be quicker and easier to work with.
This starts with rolling out new capabilities that give our customers greater control. Starting in early 2026, select customers will be able to automate network management using agentic AI and Model Context Protocol (MCP) capabilities in Fabric Intelligence. Instead of managing networks manually, they’ll be able to set their intent using natural language, and their networks will adapt accordingly.
We’re also learning our customers better than ever before. It starts with the simple acknowledgement that not all businesses are the same. A bank has significantly different needs than a federal agency, and both of those will look different from a telco provider. They’ll all have different workloads to support, different regulations to worry about, and different ecosystem partners to connect with. We’re working to make sure we’re ready to help them meet those unique needs.
I couldn’t be more excited about everything we have planned, and I hope all our customers are just as excited about pursuing these opportunities together. Here’s to the year ahead!
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