How Equinix has found a niche in the multitrillion-dollar AI data center boom

* Equinix partners with Nvidia & Together AI to offer inference platform as a service. * Stock up 33% YTD, market cap reaches $100B as AI demand grows. * Equinix focuses on smaller urban facilities vs. gigawatt-scale AI data centers. Equinix, the oldest colocation data-center provider, signed a deal with Nvidia giving customers access to open-source AI inference on Together AI's platform starting Q1 2027. The company's 281 facilities in 77 metro areas across six continents position it close to end-users, a key advantage for low-latency inference workloads. Shares have risen 33% this year, lifting market cap to $100B, but short-seller Jim Chanos argues legacy data-center REITs lack profitability. Q2 revenue rose 16% to $2.63B, yet CoreWeave, a pure-play AI cloud, posted bigger growth. Analysts note Equinix is diversified and insulated from an AI bubble but may miss some hyperscale boom.