GDS Holdings releases transcript of first-quarter 2026 earnings call

• GDS discussed its first-quarter 2026 results on an earnings call attended by Founder, Chairman and CEO William Huang, CFO Daniel Newman, Head of Investor Relations Laura Chen, and analysts from Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, UBS, Raymond James, Macquarie, Goldman Sachs, and BofA Securities.
• Management flagged a resurgence in China data center demand driven by AI, citing total bookings of 1.8 gigawatts through 1Q26 and a plan to add 500-800 megawatts of new bookings per year, supported by a secured land bank of nearly 4 gigawatts.
• Year-to-date new bookings exceeded 340 megawatts against a 2026 sales target of at least 500 megawatts, with new bookings plus reservations topping 1 gigawatt; backlog rose to more than 200,000 square meters, or nearly 600 megawatts, expected to become billable within six to eight quarters.
• New-build unit development cost averaged around RMB 20,000 per kilowatt, with pricing described as stable and an adjusted gross profit yield of 10%-11% for stabilized assets; management estimated about a 15% like-for-like unit cost decline over three years.
• Liquidity increased to more than RMB 19 billion in cash and time deposits following RMB 2.7 billion proceeds from a partial sale of its DayOne equity interest and RMB 2.1 billion from issuing convertible preferred shares; net debt to annualized adjusted EBITDA fell to 4.7x, with a 5x-6x range viewed as acceptable as investment ramps.

Disclaimer: This news brief was created by Public Technologies (PUBT) using generative artificial intelligence. While PUBT strives to provide accurate and timely information, this AI-generated content is for informational purposes only and should not be interpreted as financial, investment, or legal advice. GDS Holdings Limited published the original content used to generate this news brief on May 21, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained therein.