NEXTDC Ltd. (NXDCF), a Brisbane-based data-center operator, saw its shares rise as much as 5% after announcing new customer contracts that increased pro-forma contracted utilization by 11% during the three months through June. The new agreements lifted contracted utilization to 740 megawatts and expanded the company's pro-forma forward order book to 565 megawatts. Investors may view the contract wins as further evidence that demand linked to the artificial-intelligence infrastructure build-out continues to support Australia and New Zealand's growing data-center sector. NEXTDC shares have gained more than 8% this year, while Infratil Ltd., a Wellington-listed peer in the sector, has surged 37%.

The latest announcement follows NEXTDC's A$1.5 billion capital raise in April, which ranked among Australia's largest equity offerings this year. Citigroup Inc. , a global financial-services company, said the increase in contracted utilization likely did not surprise investors because it appeared consistent with Sharon AI Holdings Inc., a U.S.-listed neocloud company, requiring 72 megawatts following its recent partnership announcement with Nvidia Corp. , a U.S. semiconductor company supplying chips used in artificial-intelligence computing. Sharon AI has also signed a $950 million, five-year cloud-computing contract with NEXTDC to deploy infrastructure across Australia.

NEXTDC maintained its net revenue, underlying earnings and capital-expenditure guidance for the financial year ending June 30. The company expects its forward order book to convert progressively into revenue and earnings through 2030. This outlook could give investors greater visibility into NEXTDC's longer-term growth pipeline, while the recent customer wins may strengthen expectations that AI-related data-center demand will continue supporting utilization and future financial performance.