2Q26 Data Center Leasing Strength Continues; DLR/EQIX Preview

Research evidence excerpt

2Q26 Data Center Leasing Strength Continues; DLR/EQIX Preview

July 19, 2026 | 17:08 ET~

Comms Infrastructure

2Q26 Data Center Leasing Strength Continues; DLR/ Comms Infrastructure

EQIX Preview Ari Klein Analyst

ari.klein@bmo.com (212) 885-4103

John P. Kim Analyst

Bottom Line: JohnP.Kim@bmo.com (212) 885-4115

Industry demand remains exceptionally strong, with North American net absorption Robin Haneland Senior Associate

exceeding 5GW for a fourth straight quarter, record international growth, and vacancy robin.haneland@bmo.com (646) 901-2282

falling below 1% for the first time, underscoring persistent supply constraints and Legal Entity: BMO Capital Markets Corp.

pricing power. Shares of AI enablers have come under some recent pressure, though

we continue to view DLR and EQIX as key beneficiaries of AI-driven demand. We Real Estate Investment Trusts

view DLR's growth outlook as de-risked by backlog with potential leasing upside 320

and recent acquisitions boosting 2027/2028 estimates, while EQIX is well positioned 300

to capture accelerating AI inference and interconnection demand. Although NIMBY- 280

related pushback is increasing, we believe growing scarcity in core markets ultimately 260 300

strengthens the long-term outlook for both platforms. We update estimates within. 240 200

220 100

Key Points 200 Jan Jul Jan Jul 0

LHS: Price / RHS: Volume (k) Source: FactSet

No Let-up; Int'l Surge. According to datacenterHawk, 2Q N. America net absorption

exceeded 5GW for fourth-consecutive quarter. Leasing of 6.0GW remained elevated,

up 362% y/y and above prior TTM average of 5.2GW, though below the record 7.0GW

leased in 1Q. Europe and APAC accelerated, with net absorption of 1,515MW/2,370MW

more than double prior quarterly records and versus TTM averages of 478MW/634MW.