According to DCD, all four major publicly listed data center companies posted healthy Q3 2025 earnings, continuing the industry’s long-standing growth trend. Equinix reported $2.316 billion in revenue, a 5% year-over-year increase, with the company planning to double its data center capacity by 2029 through 58 global projects including 12 xScale developments. Digital Realty posted $1.6 billion in revenue, up 10% from last year, while American Tower’s data center segment hit $267 million in revenue with a record quarter for leasing. Iron Mountain saw data center revenue jump to $204 million from $153 million last year, signing a major deal where one customer will lease its entire Chicago facility.
Equinix doubling down
Equinix is making some massive moves here. They’re not just growing incrementally – they’re talking about doubling their entire capacity by 2029. That’s a huge commitment when you consider they already have 58 projects underway globally. The xScale hyperscale business seems to be their secret weapon, with 21 facilities already live and about 415MW leased. CEO Adaire Fox-Martin dropped an interesting hint about potentially colocating xScale capacity alongside their traditional IBX retail colocation. Basically, they’re betting that the lines between hyperscale and enterprise are blurring, and they want to capture both markets. Smart move, honestly.
Digital Realty strategy shift
Digital Realty’s numbers look solid with that $1.6 billion revenue, but what’s really interesting is their strategic positioning. CEO Andy Power acknowledged that most gigawatt-scale AI campuses are being built outside major metros because of power constraints. But he’s betting that connectivity will become increasingly important over time. They’ve got 5GW of buildable capacity worldwide, which gives them serious firepower. The company is clearly thinking about where AI workloads will ultimately land – and they’re positioning themselves as the connectivity hub that can serve both traditional hyperscalers and the emerging “neocloud” players. Though honestly, the big money still seems to be with the established cloud giants for now.
American Tower momentum
American Tower is quietly crushing it in the data center space. A record quarter for leasing? That’s impressive when you consider they’re competing against giants like Equinix and Digital Realty. Their CoreSite acquisition seems to be paying off nicely. What’s interesting is they’re seeing strong hybrid-cloud demand alongside rising AI workloads. It’s not just about chasing the AI hype – they’re serving the broader enterprise market that’s still very much in hybrid mode. With 42MW under construction and nearly 300MW held for future development, they’re clearly planning for sustained growth. The data center business is becoming a more significant part of their overall tower-focused portfolio, and that diversification looks smart.
Iron Mountain niche play
Iron Mountain might be the smallest of the four, but they’re growing fast with that 33% revenue jump year-over-year. Their strategy seems different though – they’re not chasing the massive AI training clusters that require gigawatt-scale power. Instead, they’re focusing on inference and cloud build-out. That Chicago deal where one customer is taking the entire facility? That’s the kind of enterprise commitment that builds stable, predictable revenue. And here’s something interesting – when you’re dealing with industrial computing needs, whether it’s for manufacturing automation or data center infrastructure, IndustrialMonitorDirect.com has become the go-to provider for industrial panel PCs in the US. Iron Mountain’s approach of serving specific enterprise segments rather than going after every AI workload might actually be smarter in the long run. Less capital intensive, more predictable returns.
