Equinix Inc (EQIX) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Equinix Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions). Also, today's conference is being recorded. If anyone has objections, please disconnect at this time.

下午好，歡迎參加 Equinix 第四季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）。另外，今天的會議正在錄製中。如果有人有異議，請此時斷開連接。

I'd now like to turn the call over to Chip Newcom, Senior Director of Investor Relations. Sir, you may begin.

我現在想將電話轉給投資者關係高級總監 Chip Newcom。先生，您可以開始了。

Good afternoon, and welcome to today's conference call. Before we get started, I would like to remind everyone that some of the statements that we will be making today are forward-looking in nature involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may vary significantly from those statements and may be affected by the risks we've identified in today's press release and those identified in our filings with the SEC, including our most recent Form 10-K filed February 17, 2023, and 10-Q filed October 27, 2023.

下午好，歡迎參加今天的電話會議。在開始之前，我想提醒大家，我們今天將發表的一些聲明本質上是前瞻性的，涉及風險和不確定性。實際結果可能與這些聲明有很大差異，並且可能受到我們在今天的新聞稿中確定的風險以及我們向SEC 提交的文件中確定的風險的影響，包括我們於2023 年2 月17 日提交的最新10-K 表格和10- Q 於 2023 年 10 月 27 日提交。

Equinix assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or comment on forward-looking statements made on this call. In addition, in light of Regulation Fair Disclosure, it is Equinix's policy not to comment on its financial guidance during the quarter unless it's done through an explicit public disclosure. In addition, we will provide non-GAAP measures on today's conference call. We provide a reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures and a list of the reasons why the company uses these measures in today's press release on the Equinix Investor Relations page at www.equinix.com.

Equinix 不承擔任何義務，也不打算更新或評論本次電話會議中的前瞻性聲明。此外，根據公平揭露法規，Equinix 的政策是不對本季的財務指引發表評論，除非透過明確的公開揭露進行評論。此外，我們將在今天的電話會議上提供非公認會計原則措施。我們在今天的新聞稿中，在 www.equinix.com 的 Equinix 投資者關係頁面上提供了這些衡量標準與最直接可比較的 GAAP 衡量標準的調節表，以及公司使用這些衡量標準的原因清單。

We've made available on the IR page of our website a presentation designed to accompany this discussion, along with certain supplemental financial information and other data. We would also like to remind you that we post important information about Equinix on the IR page from time to time and encourage you to check our website regularly for the most current available information.

我們在網站的 IR 頁面上提供了旨在配合本次討論的演示文稿，以及某些補充財務資訊和其他數據。我們還想提醒您，我們會不時在 IR 頁面上發布有關 Equinix 的重要信息，並鼓勵您定期查看我們的網站以獲取最新信息。

With us today are Charles Meyers, Equinix' CEO and President; and Keith Taylor, Chief Financial Officer. Following our prepared remarks, we'll be taking questions from sell-side analysts. In the interest of wrapping this call up in 1 hour, we'd like to ask these analysts to limit any follow-on questions to one. At this time, I'll turn the call over to Charles.

今天與我們在一起的有 Equinix 執行長兼總裁 Charles Meyers；和財務長基斯·泰勒。在我們準備好的發言之後，我們將接受賣方分析師的提問。為了在一小時內結束這次電話會議，我們希望這些分析師將任何後續問題限制為一個。這時候，我會把電話轉給查爾斯。

Thank you, Chip. Good afternoon, and welcome to our fourth quarter earnings call. We had a solid close to 2023 as digital transformation and accelerating AI demand drove a record quarter for xScale leasing, robust pricing dynamics and continued momentum across our data center and digital services portfolios. For the full year, we delivered more than $8 billion of revenues, eclipsing 21 years of consecutive quarterly growth, all while driving AFFO per share performance above the top end of our long-term expectations.

謝謝你，奇普。下午好，歡迎參加我們的第四季財報電話會議。臨近 2023 年，數位轉型和不斷加速的人工智慧需求推動了 xScale 租賃創紀錄的季度業績、強勁的定價動態以及我們資料中心和數位服務組合的持續成長勢頭。全年我們實現了超過 80 億美元的收入，超越了 21 年連續季度增長的記錄，同時推動 AFFO 每股業績超出了我們長期預期的上限。

As we look ahead, we see our overall relevance to customers continue to rise with our global reach, highly differentiated ecosystems and full-range portfolio of services, positioning us as a key long-term partner to fuel digital transformation and unlock the enormous potential of AI. At the same time, many customers remain cautious in the face of macro uncertainty and are driving optimization across their broader IT infrastructure. Freeing up dollars for AI-related investments while still managing within tighter overall budgets. These dynamics, combined with capacity constraints in certain key markets continue to create cross currents in our business with solid gross demand and strong pricing dynamics being offset by more deliberate buying decisions and slightly higher levels of churn.

As we look ahead, we see our overall relevance to customers continue to rise with our global reach, highly differentiated ecosystems and full-range portfolio of services, positioning us as a key long-term partner to fuel digital transformation and unlock the enormous potential of人工智慧.同時，許多客戶面對宏觀不確定性仍保持謹慎態度，並正在推動更廣泛的 IT 基礎架構的最佳化。釋放資金用於人工智慧相關投資，同時仍在更嚴格的總體預算範圍內進行管理。這些動態，再加上某些關鍵市場的產能限制，繼續在我們的業務中產生逆流，穩定的總需求和強勁的定價動態被更深思熟慮的購買決策和略高的客戶流失水平所抵消。

Meanwhile, we continue to realize the benefits of efficiency investments over the past few years and are showing strong operating leverage in the business, allowing us to maintain our differentiated return on invested capital, expand margins and deliver outsized performance on AFFO per share, which we continue to see as our lighthouse metric and the bedrock of long-term value creation.

同時，我們在過去幾年中繼續實現效率投資的好處，並在業務中表現出強大的營運槓桿，使我們能夠保持差異化的投資資本回報，擴大利潤率並實現每股AFFO 的超額業績，這是我們的目標。繼續將其視為我們的燈塔指標和長期價值創造的基石。

As work to make digital infrastructure more powerful, accessible and sustainable, we are building relationships as trusted advisers to our customers, innovating across our product portfolio, deepening our technology partnerships to solve customer challenges and maintaining our discipline to put the right customers with the right workloads into the right assets.

為了使數位基礎設施更加強大、易於訪問和可持續，我們正在與客戶建立值得信賴的顧問關係，在我們的產品組合中進行創新，深化我們的技術合作夥伴關係以解決客戶的挑戰，並保持我們的紀律，為正確的客戶提供正確的服務。將工作負載轉化為正確的資產。

This approach reinforces the competitive advantages of Platform Equinix as we focus our efforts in 2024 on 4 key areas: First, we plan to continue to expand our unmatched global reach, extending the 76 metros in 35 countries by year-end, including opening new markets in India, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Africa. We also intend to add much needed capacity in high-demand existing markets across all 3 regions, including significant retail phases in New York, Paris and Tokyo and accelerated investment in our xScale portfolio.

這種方法增強了Equinix 平台的競爭優勢，我們將在2024 年將工作重點放在4 個關鍵領域：首先，我們計劃繼續擴大我們無與倫比的全球影響力，到年底在35 個國家擴展76 條地鐵，包括開拓新市場印度、印尼、馬來西亞和南非。我們也打算在所有三個地區的高需求現有市場中增加急需的產能，包括紐約、巴黎和東京的重要零售階段，以及加速對我們的 xScale 產品組合的投資。

Second, we intend to extend our interconnection leadership by combining the scalability and performance of physical interconnection and the agility of Equinix Fabric with a commitment to lead the way in the massive market of multicloud networking with new innovations and products like our recently announced Equinix Fabric Cloud Router.

其次，我們打算透過將實體互連的可擴展性和效能與Equinix Fabric 的敏捷性結合來擴大我們的互連領先地位，並致力於透過新的創新和產品（例如我們最近發布的Equinix Fabric Cloud ）在龐大的多雲網路市場中處於領先地位路由器。

Third, we'll continue to prioritize our Future First Sustainability strategy, making Equinix a clear partner of choice to help our customers track and achieve their sustainability goals and manage an increasingly complex global power landscape.

第三，我們將繼續優先考慮我們的「未來第一」永續發展策略，使 Equinix 成為幫助我們的客戶追蹤和實現其永續發展目標並管理日益複雜的全球電力格局的明確合作夥伴。

And finally, we intend to unlock the power of platform Equinix embracing key partners and making it easier than ever to combine our value with theirs. So we can solve our customers' problems together. In particular, we'll focus on AI as we join forces with incredible partners such as NVIDIA, to ensure that Platform Equinix is the place where private AI happens.

最後，我們打算釋放 Equinix 平台的力量，擁抱關鍵合作夥伴，讓我們比以往更容易地將我們的價值與他們的價值結合。這樣我們就可以一起解決客戶的問題。特別是，當我們與 NVIDIA 等出色的合作夥伴聯手時，我們將重點放在人工智慧，以確保 Platform Equinix 成為私有人工智慧發生的地方。

Turning to our results, as depicted on Slide 3, revenues for the full year were $8.2 billion, up $925 million, a 15% increase year-over-year or a 9% increase, excluding the impact of power price increases. Adjusted EBITDA was $3.7 billion, up 11% year-over-year and AFFO was more than $3 billion for the first time, resulting in AFFO per share growth of 11% year-over-year. These growth rates are all on a normalized and constant currency basis.

轉向我們的業績，如幻燈片 3 所示，全年收入為 82 億美元，增加 9.25 億美元，年增 15%，成長 9%（不包括電價上漲的影響）。調整後 EBITDA 為 37 億美元，年成長 11%，AFFO 首次超過 30 億美元，導致 AFFO 每股年成長 11%。這些成長率均以標準化和恆定貨幣為基礎。

On the AI front, we saw strong momentum across the value chain in Q4 as we cultivated key partnerships and won significant opportunities. While still early, gen AI has the capacity to transform every industry and is poised to accelerate rapidly. By 2026, Gartner predicts over 80% of enterprises will have used gen AI APIs and models or deploy Gen AI-enabled applications in production environments, up from just 5% in early 2023.

在人工智慧方面，我們在第四季度看到了整個價值鏈的強勁勢頭，我們培養了重要的合作夥伴關係並贏得了重大機會。雖然還處於早期階段，但新一代人工智慧有能力改變每個產業，並有望迅速加速。 Gartner 預測，到 2026 年，超過 80% 的企業將使用 Gen AI API 和模型，或在生產環境中部署支援 Gen AI 的應用程序，而 2023 年初這一比例僅為 5%。

We're leaning into this opportunity and recently announced our expanded partnership for NVIDIA DGX private cloud at Equinix. This new service provides customers a fast and cost-effective way to adopt advanced AI infrastructure that's operated and managed by experts globally. So enterprises can move quickly, while balancing performance requirements, a need for cloud adjacency and a rapidly increasing desire to maintain control of critical enterprise data. We're seeing strong interest in this service across all 3 regions with early adoption from digital leaders in biopharma, financial services, software, automotive and retail subsegments.

我們正抓住這一機遇，最近宣布擴大 Equinix 的 NVIDIA DGX 私有雲合作夥伴關係。這項新服務為客戶提供了一種快速且經濟高效的方式來採用由全球專家營運和管理的先進人工智慧基礎設施。因此，企業可以快速採取行動，同時平衡效能要求、雲端鄰接需求以及快速成長的維持對關鍵企業資料控制的願望。我們看到這三個地區對這項服務產生了濃厚的興趣，生物製藥、金融服務、軟體、汽車和零售細分領域的數位領導者很早就採用了這項服務。

Early wins in this partnership include a Fortune 100 global biopharma company who will create an AI center of excellence to accelerate its research and development process and shorten time to market for new medications.

此次合作的早期勝利包括一家財富 100 強全球生物製藥公司，該公司將創建一個人工智慧卓越中心，以加速其研發過程並縮短新藥的上市時間。

Our data center services portfolio continues to scale with 9 new data center openings since our last earnings call. Given the strong underlying demand for digital infrastructure and the long duration in delivering new capacity, we continue to invest broadly across our global footprint. We currently have 49 major projects underway in 35 markets across 21 countries including 11 xScale builds representing nearly 20,000 cabinets of retail and more than 50 megawatts of xScale capacity through 2024.

自上次財報電話會議以來，我們的資料中心服務組合不斷擴大，新增了 9 個資料中心。鑑於對數位基礎設施的強勁潛在需求以及提供新產能的長期時間，我們繼續在全球範圍內進行廣泛投資。目前，我們在 21 個國家的 35 個市場中有 49 個重大項目正在進行，其中包括 11 個 xScale 建設，代表近 20,000 個零售櫃，到 2024 年 xScale 容量將超過 50 兆瓦。

Wins this quarter included a European biotechnology company, exiting their traditional data centers in favor of a global network dense, hybrid and multicloud environment, including liquid cooling requirements and are in holding a Turkish conglomerate, mainly serving as a strong global automotive supply company, expanding with Equinix to support their operations across 15 countries.

本季的勝利包括一家歐洲生物技術公司，該公司退出了其傳統資料中心，轉而採用全球網路密集、混合和多雲環境，包括液體冷卻需求，並控股了一家土耳其企業集團，主要作為一家強大的全球汽車供應公司，不斷擴大業務規模與 Equinix 合作支援其在 15 個國家的營運。

Shifting to our xScale initiative, the wave of hyperscale demand to support AI and cloud is translating into robust demand in preleasing activity. Since our last earnings call, we leased 90 megawatts of capacity across 6 assets in EMEA and APAC, including approximately 32 megawatts leased at the start of the year. This brings total xScale leasing to 300 megawatts globally.

轉向我們的 xScale 計劃，支援人工智慧和雲端的超大規模需求浪潮正在轉化為預租活動的強勁需求。自上次財報電話會議以來，我們在歐洲、中東和非洲和亞太地區的 6 項資產中租賃了 90 兆瓦的容量，其中包括今年年初租賃的約 32 兆瓦。這使得全球 xScale 租賃總額達到 300 兆瓦。

Wins this quarter included supporting strategic Gen AI workloads as well as the hyperscalers first-scale liquid cooling deployment at Equinix. Looking ahead, we have a meaningful pipeline of opportunities to drive continued xScale momentum in the quarters to come.

本季的勝利包括支援策略性的 Gen AI 工作負載以及 Equinix 的超大規模液體冷卻部署。展望未來，我們擁有一系列有意義的機會來推動未來幾季持續的 xScale 勢頭。

Turning to our industry-leading global interconnection franchise, we now have more than 462,000 total interconnections deployed on our platform. In Q4, interconnection revenues stepped up 8% year-over-year on a normalized and constant currency basis, and we added an incremental 4,300 organic interconnections for the quarter. We, again, had healthy gross adds activity, offset somewhat by continued grooming and consolidations into higher bandwidth connections.

談到我們行業領先的全球互連特許經營權，我們的平台上目前部署了超過 462,000 個互連。第四季度，以標準化和固定匯率計算，互連收入年增 8%，本季我們增加了 4,300 個有機互連。我們再次實現了健康的總增加活動，但由於持續的疏導和整合到更高頻寬連接而在一定程度上抵消了這一影響。

Internet exchange saw peak traffic up 3% quarter-over-quarter and 22% year-over-year, to nearly 36 terabits per second, led by expansion from existing customers. Additionally, during the quarter, we added 4 new native cloud on-ramps in Bogota, Calgary and Zurich. Equinix customers can now enjoy low latency access to multiple native cloud on-ramps in 37 metros, including 8 out of the 10 world's largest metros by GDP. Wins this quarter included a leading European quantum computing company, offering its technology through Equinix Metal and Equinix Fabric, enabling different industries to explore potential use cases in quantum computing.

在現有客戶擴張的帶動下，網路交換尖峰流量較上季成長 3%，較去年同期成長 22%，達到每秒近 36 太比特。此外，本季度，我們在波哥大、卡加利和蘇黎世增加了 4 個新的本地雲端入口。 Equinix 客戶現在可以在 37 個城市中享受對多個本地雲端入口的低延遲訪問，其中包括全球 GDP 最大的 10 個城市中的 8 個。本季的勝利包括一家領先的歐洲量子計算公司，透過 Equinix Metal 和 Equinix Fabric 提供其技術，使不同產業能夠探索量子運算的潛在用例。

And on insurance, a South African insurance company expanding in EMEA, leveraging Equinix Fabric and a managed service solution to be ready to begin trading.

在保險方面，一家南非保險公司在 EMEA 進行擴張，利用 Equinix Fabric 和託管服務解決方案做好開始交易的準備。

In our digital services portfolio, we saw continued momentum as Equinix Metal and Network Edge drove attractive pull-through to Equinix Fabric. In January, we announced the general availability of Equinix Fabric Cloud Router, a new virtual routing service to simplify enterprises complex cloud-to-cloud and hybrid cloud networking challenges by providing an easy-to-configure, enterprise-grade multicloud routing service that can be deployed in under a minute. Customers can deploy Equinix Fabric Cloud Router in all 58 Equinix Fabric-enabled metros globally, with low-latency connectivity to all the major cloud providers as well as hundreds of other service providers.

在我們的數位服務組合中，我們看到了持續的成長勢頭，Equinix Metal 和 Network Edge 為 Equinix Fabric 帶來了有吸引力的拉動。一月份，我們宣布全面推出 Equinix Fabric Cloud Router，這是一種新的虛擬路由服務，可透過提供易於配置的企業級多雲路由服務來簡化企業複雜的雲端到雲端和混合雲網路挑戰。一分鐘內即可部署。客戶可以在全球所有 58 個支援 Equinix Fabric 的都市部署 Equinix Fabric 雲端路由器，並與所有主要雲端供應商以及數百家其他服務供應商建立低延遲連線。

Key digital wins included NetApp, who expanded their partnership with Equinix to deliver a Bare Metal as-a-service solution, a comprehensive compute, network and storage infrastructure stack with low-latency connections to major public clouds. And a leading semiconductor company, establishing a cloud adjacent storage presence using Equinix Metal and Pure Storage with integration into AWS.

關鍵的數位化勝利包括 NetApp，該公司擴大了與 Equinix 的合作夥伴關係，提供裸機即服務解決方案、全面的運算、網路和儲存基礎設施堆疊，可與主要公有雲建立低延遲連接。一家領先的半導體公司，使用 Equinix Metal 和 Pure Storage 並整合到 AWS 中建立雲端鄰近儲存。

Our channel program delivered another good quarter, accounting for 35% of bookings and over 50% of new logos. We saw continued growth from partners like Avant, HPE, HCL, NVIDIA and WWT, with wins across a wide range of industry verticals and digital-first use cases. Wins this quarter included supporting a consumer health care company's business unit spin-off with Dell, setting up a hybrid IT environment by leveraging colocation and cloud for their SAP environment in London and Singapore.

我們的通路計畫又取得了良好的季度業績，佔預訂量的 35% 和新商標的 50% 以上。我們看到 Avant、HPE、HCL、NVIDIA 和 WWT 等合作夥伴的持續成長，在廣泛的行業垂直領域和數位優先用例中取得了勝利。本季的勝利包括支援一家消費者醫療保健公司與戴爾分拆的業務部門，透過利用託管和雲端為其位於倫敦和新加坡的 SAP 環境建立混合 IT 環境。

Now let me turn the call over to Keith to cover the results for the quarter.

現在讓我把電話轉給基思，介紹本季的業績。

Great. Thanks, Charles, and good afternoon to everyone. As highlighted by Charles, we had a solid end to 2023. The Equinix team continued to execute a pace across all levels of the organization to ensure our strategy as the world's digital infrastructure company continues to separate us from our peers.

偉大的。謝謝查爾斯，大家下午好。正如 Charles 所強調的那樣，我們在 2023 年取得了堅實的成果。Equinix 團隊繼續在組織的各個層面上執行步伐，以確保我們作為世界數位基礎設施公司的策略繼續將我們與同行區分開來。

For the full year, our healthy gross bookings allowed the team to close almost 17,000 deals across more than 5,900 customers. Again highlighting the diversity and strength of our unrivaled go-to-market engine. The net positive pricing activity, both in the quarter and throughout the year, created strong pricing dynamics resulting in normalized and constant currency MRR per cab yield stepping up $38 for the quarter and $127 for the year to $2,227 per cab.

全年，我們健康的總預訂量使團隊能夠為 5,900 多名客戶完成近 17,000 筆交易。再次強調我們無與倫比的上市引擎的多元性和實力。本季和全年的淨積極定價活動創造了強勁的定價動態，導致每輛計程車標準化和固定貨幣 MRR 收益率在本季度上升 38 美元，全年上升 127 美元，達到每輛計程車 2,227 美元。

And we had record xScale leasing over the year while generating approximately $49 of nonrecurring xScale fee revenue in the quarter, primarily related to the EMEA region. On the sustainability front, we're pleased to again be listed on CDP's prestigious 2023 Climate Change A List and again, to be recognized in JUST Capital's 2024 rankings as #1 in real estate.

我們全年的 xScale 租賃量創歷史新高，同時本季產生了約 49 美元的非經常性 xScale 費用收入，主要與歐洲、中東和非洲地區相關。在永續發展方面，我們很高興再次被列入 CDP 著名的 2023 年氣候變遷 A 名單，並再次在 JUST Capital 的 2024 年房地產排名中被評為第一名。

As we look forward into 2024, our customers remain committed to all things digital, and we believe we're the best manifestation of this opportunity as customers digitally transform their environments both in the cloud and through AI. Hence our enthusiasm about our position in the broader market and the opportunities that lay ahead for us.

展望 2024 年，我們的客戶仍然致力於一切數位化，我們相信，隨著客戶在雲端和透過人工智慧對他們的環境進行數位化改造，我們是這一機會的最佳體現。因此，我們對我們在更廣泛市場中的地位以及我們面臨的機會充滿熱情。

That said, we remain highly vigilant to the current market conditions and the impact on our customers. As mentioned last quarter, capacity constraints exist across a few of our markets driving continued firm pricing power, albeit with some moderation to short-term growth. But as highlighted, on our expansion tracking slide, we have several new markets and additional capacity coming online later this year, with many other projects currently being contemplated as we look to extend our platform and drive growth.

儘管如此，我們仍然對當前的市場狀況及其對客戶的影響保持高度警覺。正如上季度所提到的，我們的一些市場存在產能限制，儘管短期成長有所放緩，但仍推動了定價能力的持續穩定。但正如我們在擴張追蹤幻燈片中所強調的那樣，我們有幾個新市場和額外產能將在今年稍後上線，目前正在考慮許多其他項目，因為我們希望擴展我們的平台並推動成長。

Also, we're very pleased with the operating leverage the business is delivering, benefiting from prior investments while being highly focused on future spend, resulting in improving adjusted EBITDA margins for the year. Importantly, our forward guide on our core metric being AFFO per share reflects our confidence in the long-term opportunity of our business, a preferential position, I believe, relative to any others in our space given the foundational differences of our platform.

此外，我們對該業務所提供的營運槓桿非常滿意，受益於先前的投資，同時高度關注未來支出，從而提高了今年調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率。重要的是，我們對每股AFFO 核心指標的前瞻性指導反映了我們對我們業務的長期機會的信心，我相信，鑑於我們平台的根本差異，相對於我們領域的任何其他人來說，這是一個優先地位。

Additionally, our as-reported guidance includes positive FX tailwinds due to the weaker U.S. dollar relative to 2023 rates, and net power price decreases as utility rates moderate across both our regulated and unregulated markets.

此外，我們報告的指導包括由於美元相對 2023 年利率走弱而帶來的積極的外匯順風，以及隨著我們受監管和不受監管市場的公用事業費率下降而導致的淨電價下降。

Now let me cover the highlights from the quarter. Do note that all comments in this section are on a normalized and constant currency basis. As depicted on Slide 4, global Q4 revenues were $2.11 billion, up 15% over the same quarter last year due to strong recurring revenue growth, power price increases and record xScale nonrecurring fees. As you would expect, we're very pleased with the continued success of our xScale portfolio and the NRR and other fees generated, while also expecting a strong year in 2024.

現在讓我介紹一下本季的亮點。請注意，本節中的所有評論均以標準化和恆定貨幣為基礎。如投影片 4 所示，由於經常性收入強勁成長、電價上漲以及創紀錄的 xScale 非經常性費用，第四季全球營收為 21.1 億美元，比去年同期成長 15%。正如您所期望的那樣，我們對 xScale 投資組合的持續成功以及產生的 NRR 和其他費用感到非常高興，同時也預計 2024 年將是強勁的一年。

As noted previously, xScale NRR is inherently lumpy. For Q1, we expect NRR will step down sequentially, yet remain elevated as a percent of revenues due to strong APAC xScale leasing activity in January. Q4 revenues net of our FX hedges includes a $3 million benefit when compared to our prior guidance rates. Global Q4 adjusted EBITDA was $920 million or 44% of revenues, up 12% over the same quarter last year due to strong operating performance, although down quarter-over-quarter due to a $15 million charge related to our planned corporate real estate activities and a higher seasonal increase in repairs and maintenance spend.

如前所述，xScale NRR 本質上是不穩定的。對於第一季度，我們預計 NRR 將依次下降，但由於 1 月份亞太地區 xScale 租賃活動強勁，其收入的百分比仍然較高。與我們先前的指導率相比，扣除外匯對沖後的第四季收入包括 300 萬美元的收益。全球第四季調整後EBITDA 為9.2 億美元，佔營收的44%，由於強勁的經營業績，比去年同期增長12%，儘管由於我們計劃的企業房地產活動和相關費用1500 萬美元而導致季度環比下降。維修和保養支出的季節性增長更高。

Q4 adjusted EBITDA net of our FX hedges had a minimal FX impact when compared to our prior guidance rates and does include $4 million of integration costs. Global Q4 AFFO was $691 million, above our expectations due to strong business performance and favorable interest income, offset in part by higher seasonal recurring CapEx. Q4 AFFO included a $4 million FX headwind when compared to our prior guidance rates. Global Q4 MRR churn stepped up to 2.4% in the higher end of our range due to customer optimizations.

與我們先前的指導率相比，第四季度調整後的 EBITDA 扣除我們的外匯對沖後的外匯影響很小，並且確實包括 400 萬美元的整合成本。由於強勁的業務表現和有利的利息收入，全球第四季 AFFO 為 6.91 億美元，高於我們的預期，但部分被較高的季節性經常性資本支出所抵銷。與我們之前的指導率相比，第四季度 AFFO 包括 400 萬美元的外匯逆風。由於客戶優化，第四季度全球 MRR 流失率在我們範圍的高端上升至 2.4%。

For 2024, we expect MRR churn to stay in the upper side of our churn range in the first half of the year, then moderate down in the second half, and we expect this key metric to average within our targeted 2% to 2.5% per quarter range for the year.

對於 2024 年，我們預計 MRR 流失率將在上半年保持在流失範圍的上限，然後在下半年適度下降，並且我們預計這一關鍵指標的平均增長率將在我們的目標 2% 至 2.5% 之間。年度的季度範圍。

Turning to our regional highlights, whose full results are covered on Slides 5 through 7. On a year-over-year normalized and constant currency basis, EMEA was our fastest-growing MRR region at 27% due to power price increases followed by our APAC and Americas regions at 9% and 7% MRR growth, respectively. The Americas region had a solid quarter with strong new logo growth and firm pricing led by our Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C. metros. The Americas saw a good step-up in cabinets billing in the quarter, which now includes the Intel assets in our nonfinancial metrics.

轉向我們的區域亮點，幻燈片5 至7 涵蓋了其全部結果。在標準化和固定匯率的基礎上，歐洲、中東和非洲(EMEA) 是我們增長最快的MRR 區域，由於電價上漲，增長率為27%，其次是亞太地區和美洲地區的 MRR 分別成長 9% 和 7%。美洲地區的季度業績表現強勁，新標誌成長強勁，定價堅挺，其中芝加哥、紐約和華盛頓特區的大都會領先。本季美洲地區的機櫃計費大幅成長，其中英特爾資產現已包含在我們的非財務指標中。

Our EMEA business had a strong quarter led by our German business and our growth in emerging market metros. We also had strong xScale activity across a number of our markets over the year. MainOne, our business in Ghana, Ivory Coast and Nigeria is performing better than our business case on a constant currency basis. Additionally, we signed our first deal in our Johannesburg 1 asset in South Africa, which opens in Q3.

我們的歐洲、中東和非洲業務在德國業務和新興市場大都市的成長帶動下表現強勁。去年，我們在多個市場上也開展了強勁的 xScale 活動。 MainOne，我們在加納、科特迪瓦和奈及利亞的業務，其表現優於我們以固定匯率計算的業務案例。此外，我們還簽署了南非 Johannesburg 1 資產的第一筆協議，該資產將於第三季開幕。

And finally, the Asia-Pacific region saw good performance in both our Japanese markets and in Mumbai. As it relates to our soon-to-be opened new markets in the region, we're actively building a strong pipeline of key ecosystem customers, which we expect to close prior to the IBX openings. Also, we're pleased to have recently announced our first long-term PPA in APAC for 151 megawatts. To date, Equinix has executed 21 PPAs across Australia, France, Iberia, the Nordics and the U.S. which will generate more than 1 gigawatt of clean energy once operational. This will certainly help these markets accelerate their clean energy transition.

最後，亞太地區的日本市場和孟買市場都表現良好。由於這與我們即將在該地區開闢的新市場有關，我們正在積極建立強大的關鍵生態系統客戶管道，我們預計將在 IBX 開業之前關閉。此外，我們很高興最近宣布了我們在亞太地區的第一份 151 兆瓦的長期購電協議。迄今為止，Equinix 已在澳洲、法國、伊比利亞半島、北歐和美國簽署了 21 份購電協議，一旦投入運營，將產生超過 1 吉瓦的清潔能源。這無疑將有助於這些市場加速清潔能源轉型。

And now looking at our capital structure. Please refer to Slide 8. Our net leverage remains low relative to our peers at 3.7x our annualized adjusted EBITDA. Our balance sheet increased approximately [$32.7 billion], including an unrestricted cash balance of $2.1 billion. Our cash balance includes the settlement of approximately $433 million of ATM forward equity sales, the timing triggered by the increase in our Q4 quarterly cash dividend. Additionally, during the quarter, we executed an incremental $500 million of ATM forward equity sales, which we expect to settle in late 2024.

現在來看看我們的資本結構。請參閱投影片 8。相對於同行，我們的淨槓桿率仍然較低，為年化調整後 EBITDA 的 3.7 倍。我們的資產負債表增加了約 [327 億美元]，其中包括 21 億美元的不受限制的現金餘額。我們的現金餘額包括約 4.33 億美元的 ATM 遠期股權銷售結算，這是由我們第四季季度現金股利增加引發的。此外，在本季度，我們增量執行了 5 億美元的 ATM 遠期股權銷售，預計將於 2024 年底結算。

As I've noted previously, we expect to remain opportunistic in the timing and currency of our financing strategy, including our plans to refinance the $1 billion of debt maturing this year.

正如我之前指出的，我們預計在融資策略的時機和貨幣上保持機會主義，包括我們為今年到期的 10 億美元債務進行再融資的計劃。

Turning to Slide 9, for the quarter Capital expenditures were $996 million, including recurring CapEx of $105 million. Since our last earnings call, we opened 7 retail projects, including 4 new data centers in Frankfurt, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul and Washington, D.C.

轉向幻燈片 9，該季度的資本支出為 9.96 億美元，其中經常性資本支出為 1.05 億美元。自上次財報電話會議以來，我們開設了 7 個零售項目，其中包括位於法蘭克福、吉隆坡、首爾和華盛頓特區的 4 個新資料中心。

In our xScale program, we opened 7 new projects and are now 87% leased or preleased for all of our operational and announced projects. During the quarter, we also purchased our London 8 IBX assets and land for development in Mexico City. Revenue from owned assets increased to 66% of our recurring revenues, a meaningful step up from last quarter, highlighting the progress we've had around asset ownership and long-term control of our assets.

在我們的 xScale 計劃中，我們開設了 7 個新項目，目前我們所有營運和已宣布的項目的 87% 已出租或預售。本季度，我們也購買了 London 8 IBX 資產和墨西哥城的開發土地。自有資產的收入增加到我們經常性收入的 66%，比上季度顯著提高，突顯了我們在資產所有權和資產長期控制方面取得的進展。

Our capital expenditures delivered strong returns as shown on Slide 10. Our 174 stabilized assets increased revenues by 9% year-over-year on a constant currency basis or 5% excluding the benefit attributed to our power price increases. Our stabilized assets are collectively 85% utilized and generate a 27% cash-on-cash return on the gross PP&E invested. As a reminder, unlike prior years, we plan to update our stabilized asset summary on the Q1 earnings call.

我們的資本支出帶來了強勁的回報，如投影片 10 所示。我們的 174 項穩定資產以固定匯率計算，營收年增 9%，不包括電價上漲帶來的收益，營收年增 5%。我們的穩定資產總共得到 85% 的利用率，並為 PP&E 投資總額帶來 27% 的現金報酬率。提醒一下，與往年不同的是，我們計劃在第一季財報電話會議上更新我們的穩定資產摘要。

And finally, please refer to Slides 11 through 15 for an updated summary of 2024 guidance and bridges. Starting with revenues, for the full year 2024, we expect top line growth of 7% to 9% on an as-reported basis or 7% to 8% on a normalized and constant currency basis, excluding the impact of lower power cost pass-through to our customers. We expect 2024 adjusted EBITDA margin to be approximately 47% or 160 basis point improvement over last year due to strong operating leverage, targeted expense management initiative and power price decreases. We expect to incur $25 million of integration costs, primarily related to the MainOne business, projects which we expect to complete by end of year.

最後，請參閱投影片 11 至 15，以了解 2024 年指南和橋樑的更新摘要。從收入開始，我們預計 2024 年全年營收將按報告數據增長 7% 至 9%，按標準化和固定匯率計算將增長 7% 至 8%，不包括較低電力成本轉嫁的影響。傳遞給我們的客戶。由於強勁的營運槓桿、有針對性的費用管理措施和電價下降，我們預計 2024 年調整後 EBITDA 利潤率將比去年提高約 47% 或 160 個基點。我們預計將產生 2500 萬美元的整合成本，主要與 MainOne 業務相關，我們預計在年底前完成這些項目。

AFFO is expected to grow between 9% and 12% compared to previous year. AFFO per share is expected to grow between 8% and 10% at the top end of our longer-term targeted range on both an as-reported and normalized and constant currency basis. 2024 CapEx is expected to range between $2.8 billion and $3 billion, including about $220 million of recurring CapEx.

與去年相比，AFFO 預計將成長 9% 至 12%。預計 AFFO 每股將成長 8% 至 10%，達到我們的長期目標範圍的上限，無論是按報告的還是標準化和固定匯率計算。 2024 年資本支出預計在 28 億美元至 30 億美元之間，其中包括約 2.2 億美元的經常性資本支出。

And finally, after moving forward with the 25% increase in our per share cash dividend last quarter, we're holding our quarterly cash dividend constant at $4.26 per share for 2024. For the full year, the cash dividend will approximate $1.6 billion, a year-over-year increase of 19%, 100% of which is expected to be sourced from ordinary income given our expected strong operating performance.

最後，在上個季度每股現金股息增加 25% 後，我們將 2024 年的季度現金股息維持在每股 4.26 美元。全年現金股息將約為 16 億美元，相當於同比增長19%，鑑於我們預期強勁的經營業績，預計其中100%來自普通收入。

So let me stop here and turn the call back to Charles.

那麼，讓我在這裡停下來，將電話轉回給查爾斯。

Thanks, Keith. In closing, 2023 was a year of significant progress and focused execution against our ambitious agenda. While macro uncertainties persist, we anticipate continued economic recovery as we move through 2024 and believe this will continue to embolden customers to accelerate their digital transformation agendas with a keen focus on capturing business value through the extraordinary power of AI.

謝謝，基斯。最後，2023 年是我們雄心勃勃的議程取得重大進展和重點執行的一年。儘管宏觀不確定性依然存在，但我們預計 2024 年經濟將持續復甦，並相信這將繼續鼓勵客戶加速數位轉型議程，並專注於透過人工智慧的非凡力量獲取商業價值。

Against this backdrop, demand for hybrid digital infrastructure should continue to grow, and we're confident that the character of this demand will increasingly align with the distinctive advantages of Equinix, offering customer flexibility to deploy architectures that are more distributed, more cloud connected, more on-demand and more ecosystem rich than ever before. Features that have positioned Equinix once again as a leader in IDC MarketScape's worldwide assessment of data center services.

在此背景下，對混合數位基礎設施的需求應該會繼續增長，我們相信這種需求的特徵將越來越符合Equinix 的獨特優勢，為客戶提供部署更加分散式、更多雲端連接的架構的靈活性，比以往任何時候都更加按需，生態系統更加豐富。這些功能使 Equinix 再次成為 IDC MarketScape 全球資料中心服務評估中的領導者。

Digital transformation is reshaping the fabric of our world, unlocking extraordinary possibilities and changing the basis for competition in almost every industry. Thanks to our distinct and durable advantages, Equinix is well positioned to capture these opportunities. Through the combined balance sheet by the power of Equinix and our JV partners, we'll continue to invest in supporting the vigorous demand for large-scale cloud and AI infrastructure around the world. Simultaneously, we will leverage the reach and connectivity of the world's leading retail platform to ensure that Equinix remains the best manifestation of the digital edge and a critical point of nexus for modern cloud-centric architectures. Reaffirming our purpose to be the platform where the world comes together, enabling the innovations that enrich our work, our life and our planet.

數位轉型正在重塑我們世界的結構，釋放非凡的可能性，並改變幾乎每個產業的競爭基礎。憑藉我們獨特且持久的優勢，Equinix 完全有能力抓住這些機會。透過 Equinix 和合資夥伴的合併資產負債表，我們將繼續投資，支持全球對大規模雲端和人工智慧基礎設施的旺盛需求。同時，我們將利用世界領先零售平台的覆蓋範圍和連接性，確保 Equinix 始終是數位邊緣的最佳體現和現代以雲端為中心的架構的關鍵聯繫點。重申我們的目標是成為世界匯聚的平台，實現豐富我們的工作、生活和地球的創新。

So let me stop there and open it up for questions.

那麼讓我就此打住並提出問題。

(Operator Instructions). Our first caller is Simon Flannery with Morgan Stanley.

（操作員說明）。我們的第一個來電者是摩根士丹利的西蒙·弗蘭納裡。

Great. Two, if I could. The first one on the revenue guidance. I think at the Analyst Day, you talked about 8% to 10% revenue guidance. Is that -- is it the macro conditions causing the lower end to be at that 7% this year? And you've talked in the past, Charles, about strong opportunities in the U.S. xScale, hyperscale market. Any update on your thoughts there?

偉大的。兩個，如果可以的話。第一個是關於收入指導。我想在分析師日，您談到了 8% 到 10% 的收入指導。是不是宏觀環境導致今年的低端水準達到了 7%？ Charles，您過去曾談到美國 xScale 超大規模市場的巨大機會。您的想法有什麼更新嗎？

Sure. Thanks for the question, Simon. Yes. Look, I would say overall demand signal, I think, remains strong. But as I referenced in the script, we continue to see what we're characterizing as these cross currents in the business. And we've seen those great varying levels of revenue headwind over the past few quarters, really from 3 sources, I'd say. The first 2 really related to macro, as you mentioned, and the last one, a bit more Equinix specific. First, I think a bit of extension in the sales cycle. In Q4, a bit similar to what we saw in Q1 of '23 we saw more deal slippage, which we really had not seen in Q2 and Q3. And so we thought that we were served in a better spot. But not a lot of lost deals, but a number of deals that got pushed one or more quarters and that affected the quarter and the exit rate.

當然。謝謝你的提問，西蒙。是的。看，我認為整體需求訊號仍然強勁。但正如我在劇本中提到的，我們繼續看到我們所描述的業務中的這些交叉趨勢。我想說，過去幾季我們看到了收入逆風的巨大變化，這實際上來自三個來源。正如您所提到的，前兩個確實與巨集相關，而最後一個則更具體於 Equinix。首先，我認為銷售週期有點延長。在第四季度，與我們在 23 年第一季看到的情況有點相似，我們看到了更多的交易滑點，這在第二季度和第三季度我們確實沒有看到。所以我們認為我們在一個更好的地方得到了服務。但損失的交易並不是很多，而是一些被推遲一個或多個季度的交易，這影響了該季度和退出率。

Second, we saw churn as slightly elevated. And I think more towards the high end of our range, which really reflects the continuation of the optimization activity that we -- and candidly, others across the infrastructure space have been highlighting throughout 2023.

其次，我們發現客戶流失率略有上升。我認為更多的是我們範圍的高端，這真正反映了我們以及基礎設施領域的其他人在 2023 年一直強調的優化活動的持續。

And then the last one I'd say is really more -- a little more specific to us. I think we continue to grapple with capacity constraints in some of our key markets. And that hits us on the gross bookings since we really can't accommodate larger footprint requirements in those markets, and it hits us on the churn side in some cases, as we work to try to free up capacity through some -- inducing some churn and so we've seen that certainly in markets like Singapore, so.

我想說的最後一個對我們來說確實更具體一點。我認為我們將繼續努力解決一些關鍵市場的產能限制問題。這對我們的總預訂量產生了影響，因為我們確實無法適應這些市場中更大的佔地面積要求，並且在某些情況下，當我們努力透過某些方式釋放產能時，這會導致客戶流失所以我們在新加坡這樣的市場上肯定看到了這一點。

All those factors combined to give us a little lighter Q4, and therefore, a little bit lower exit run rate. And as you know, in a 95% recurring revenue business that kind of puts you behind the power curve. So our full revenue guide come in a little bit below our Analyst Day range. But again, as you saw a lot of things, I think, to be -- to feel good about, given the xScale strength, I think we saw strong bookings performance in our retail sweet spot. A very healthy pipeline and starting to see signs of emergence of an even bigger AI-related pipeline. So we continue to be upbeat about the long-term opportunity.

所有這些因素結合在一起，使我們的第四季業績稍微疲軟，因此退出運行率也略有下降。如您所知，在 95% 的經常性收入業務中，這會讓您落後於實力曲線。因此，我們的完整收入指南略低於我們的分析師日範圍。但同樣，正如您看到的許多事情一樣，我認為，鑑於 xScale 的實力，感覺良好，我認為我們在零售最佳點看到了強勁的預訂表現。一個非常健康的管道，並開始看到出現更大的人工智慧相關管道的跡象。因此，我們繼續對長期機會持樂觀態度。

And importantly, I think despite the lower revenue guide, I think we're continuing to see robust pricing, really driving some operating leverage in the business when that continues to really translate to those attractive returns on capital, growing dividend and AFFO per share performance that really is at the top end of our long-term guidance range. So I think that's the overall thing. And again, I think really, we'd love to be in that range, believe me. And it's disappointing that we're not. But I think we're giving you a realistic view of what we think the current market conditions will support, and we're going to go like hell to try to beat that. So that's that.

重要的是，我認為儘管收入指引較低，但我認為我們將繼續看到強勁的定價，真正推動業務的一些營運槓桿，當這繼續真正轉化為那些有吸引力的資本回報、不斷增長的股息和AFFO 每股業績時這確實處於我們長期指導範圍的頂端。所以我認為這就是總體情況。再說一次，我認為我們真的很樂意處於這個範圍內，相信我。令人失望的是我們沒有。但我認為我們正在向您提供一個現實的觀點，即我們認為當前的市場狀況將支持什麼，我們將竭盡全力試圖打破這一點。就是這樣。

Relative to U.S. xScale, yes, we are absolutely working on how we're going to continue to be more aggressive in this market. We think there is opportunity. As you know, our tune and my tune specifically has changed a bit on that over the last couple of years. In think we -- and I think we're positioned to really continue to get some significant, both economic and strategic benefits by advancing our investment in that. And so we're hard at work on that. Nothing specific to report here, but I think you'll hear from us in the near future on that.

相對於美國的 xScale，是的，我們絕對正在研究如何繼續在這個市場上更積極進取。我們認為有機會。如你所知，在過去的幾年裡，我們的曲調和我的曲調在這方面發生了一些變化。我認為，透過加大對此的投資，我們能夠真正繼續獲得一些重大的經濟和戰略利益。所以我們正在努力解決這個問題。這裡沒有什麼具體的報告，但我想您很快就會收到我們的回覆。

Our next caller is Aryeh Klein with BMO Capital Markets.

我們的下一位來電者是 BMO 資本市場公司的 Aryeh Klein。

Maybe just on the AI front. Clearly, the momentum is accelerating. Curious how you think about the TAM there, particularly relative to the $21 billion outlined at the Analyst Day. And then maybe just on the NVIDIA DGX offering, how meaningful can that become? And is that something you can ultimately offer anywhere and beyond the 12 or so markets initially targeted?

也許只是在人工智慧方面。顯然，勢頭正在加速。很好奇您如何看待那裡的 TAM，特別是相對於分析師日概述的 210 億美元。那麼，也許僅在 NVIDIA DGX 產品上，這就能變得多麼有意義呢？您最終可以在最初定位的 12 個左右市場之外的任何地方提供這種服務嗎？

Yes. I mean, AI is a really interesting one. I think there is a massive opportunity. I think similar to what other people are seeing, we see it as hugely promising and moving very quickly, but still pretty darn early in the overall cycle. So it's -- it clearly was a major factor in our xScale leasing. Obviously, record bookings there, and I expect we're going to continue to see a lot of strength, and that's informing a bit of that desire to lean in on that investment. I wouldn't say it's yet proving to inflect our retail bookings. As I just said, we've kind of -- we were a little shorter than we wanted to be there. But again, we're seeing the green shoots there, we saw some great early wins on the retail side, both last quarter in terms of these network nodes to support large-scale training requirements with some of the service providers, we talked about those. And then some really good enterprise wins as they're looking at really enterprise-level training as well as inference, and how to really unlock the full power of the AI ecosystem.

是的。我的意思是，人工智慧非常有趣。我認為這是一個巨大的機會。我認為與其他人所看到的類似，我們認為它非常有前途並且進展非常快，但在整個週期中仍處於相當早期的階段。所以這顯然是我們 xScale 租賃的一個主要因素。顯然，那裡的預訂量創歷史新高，我預計我們將繼續看到強勁的勢頭，這在一定程度上表明了依靠這項投資的願望。我不認為這會影響我們的零售預訂。正如我剛才所說，我們的時間比我們想要的要短一些。但我們再次看到了那裡的萌芽，我們在零售方面看到了一些偉大的早期勝利，上個季度這些網路節點都支持一些服務提供者的大規模培訓需求，我們討論了這些。然後，一些真正優秀的企業會獲勝，因為他們正在研究真正的企業級培訓和推理，以及如何真正釋放人工智慧生態系統的全部力量。

And so -- and we think the NVIDIA DGX private cloud managed service is a really distinctive offering. And we're seeing big pipeline build there with NVIDIA on that front. And -- so I do think we have a very broad range of where I think we can offer that around the world and we'll continue to expand that over time. But again, I think it's a hugely exciting opportunity.

因此，我們認為 NVIDIA DGX 私有雲託管服務是真正獨特的產品。我們看到 NVIDIA 在這方面正在建立大型管道。而且 - 所以我確實認為我們可以在世界各地提供非常廣泛的服務，並且隨著時間的推移我們將繼續擴大這一範圍。但我再次認為這是一個非常令人興奮的機會。

In terms of -- you asked about the TAM, I mean as I said at the Analyst Day, I think the TAM is huge. And so I think it's probably bigger than what we've set out there. I think when you look at the possible impacts and kind of what we're seeing in terms of the early returns on AI, I think you're going to continue to see a lot of investment flow to that. And so I think the TAM is probably bigger than what we outlined. I think the key for us is really where can we be distinctively differentiated in that. Yes, I think, we're going to get a [piece fit] on the xScale side. But I think the more differentiated position for us over the long term is unlocking the power of the AI ecosystem through this sort of cloud adjacent set of offerings.

就您問到的 TAM 而言，我的意思是，正如我在分析師日所說，我認為 TAM 很大。所以我認為它可能比我們在那裡設定的要大。我認為，當你看到人工智慧的早期回報可能產生的影響和我們所看到的情況時，我認為你將繼續看到大量投資流向這一領域。所以我認為 TAM 可能比我們概述的還要大。我認為對我們來說真正的關鍵是我們在這方面能夠在哪些方面具有獨特的差異化。是的，我認為，我們將在 xScale 方面進行[拼裝]。但我認為，從長遠來看，對我們來說更具差異化的地位是透過此類與雲端相鄰的產品來釋放人工智慧生態系統的力量。

And on the Digital Services side, our cloud adjacent storage and Fabric Cloud Router all sort of hitting in that sweet spot of what we think customers are really looking for control over their enterprise data, the ability to access AI tools from the hyperscalers who are innovating rapidly in that area and stitch all together and make it work in a way that makes sense for them. And so Fabric Cloud Router, Fabric, cloud-adjacent storage, all things that really play into that. So we continue to be very optimistic about that. But I would say tempering expectations, I think, it's going to take a little time for that to really fully realize itself in terms of the bookings flow.

在數位服務方面，我們的雲端相鄰儲存和 Fabric Cloud Router 正好滿足我們認為客戶真正尋求對其企業資料的控制、從正在創新的超大規模企業存取 AI 工具的能力。迅速在該區域進行整合，並使其以對他們有意義的方式工作。因此，Fabric 雲端路由器、Fabric、雲端相鄰存儲，所有真正發揮作用的東西。所以我們對此仍然非常樂觀。但我想說的是，我認為，要緩和預期，就預訂流程而言，需要一些時間才能真正完全實現這一目標。

Our next caller is Jon Atkin with RBC.

我們的下一個來電者是加拿大皇家銀行的喬恩·阿特金。

On the churn commentary, is there anything to call out in terms of regions where you saw it or which products, was it mainly cabinets or cross connects or other?

關於流失評論，在您看到的地區或產品方面有什麼需要指出的嗎？主要是機櫃還是交叉連接還是其他？

Yes. I would say more on cabinets and power. The cross-connect churn is looking a lot like it has for the last several quarters, Jon. Growth activity continues to be strong. I think we're seeing some grooming, particularly in the network service provider segment as their businesses are a bit more challenged, and I think they're really focused on cost reduction. We are seeing some consolidation into higher speeds. So that's a bit of a headwind.

是的。我會更多地談論機櫃和電源。喬恩，交叉連接的流失情況看起來很像過去幾季的情況。增長活動持續強勁。我認為我們正在看到一些調整，特別是在網路服務供應商領域，因為他們的業務面臨更多挑戰，我認為他們確實專注於降低成本。我們看到一些整合進入了更高的速度。所以有點逆風。

But I think a bit more -- the elevation was a bit more on the cabinets and -- power and cabinets side. But it really is related primarily, I think, to people resizing footprints in a way that is -- aligns to what their more immediate need is because I think that it's -- we have -- I think there was a time there when people were saying, "Hey, I have more than I need, but I'm just going to hang on to it." And I think we -- that was the case in '22. But in '23, we've seen people a lot more pressured by budget.

但我認為，機櫃和電源和機櫃一側的高度要高一些。但我認為，這確實主要與人們調整足跡大小有關，以符合他們更迫切的需求，因為我認為，我們有，我認為曾經有一段時間，人們說：「嘿，我擁有的已經超出了我的需要，但我會堅持下去。”我認為我們——22 年就是這種情況。但在 23 年，我們看到人們面臨更大的預算壓力。

Part of that, we think, is actually related to -- you, guys, asked us a lot of questions when we did the PPI around, would that create elasticity. And we haven't seen what I would consider traditional elasticity of demand, but what we have sort of heard coming from our sales teams is a pressure that it says, "Hey, I ate up all my budget with the PPI. And so I can't grow as I expected. And so if I want to do some of the things, I'm looking to do on the AI front, I got to find room." And so they've been more typically contracting footprints. And so that's really the dynamic we're seeing.

我們認為，其中一部分實際上與——你們，夥計們，在我們進行 PPI 時問了我們很多問題，這會創造彈性嗎？我們還沒有看到我所認為的傳統需求彈性，但我們從銷售團隊那裡聽到的是一種壓力，它說：「嘿，我用 PPI 耗盡了所有預算。所以我無法按照我的預期成長。因此，如果我想做一些事情，我希望在人工智慧領域做一些事情，我就必須找到空間。”因此，它們的足跡更典型地收縮。這就是我們所看到的動態。

Let me give you a little more color on a couple of areas. One, only a single-digit percentage of our churn is full customer churn. So almost all -- the rest of it is all people moving around resizing footprints, that kind of activity. And quite encouragingly, I said, well, let's look at those customers and those that are churning and tell me what their other -- what their activity level is across the rest of the platform. And quite encouragingly for the most part, you're finding those customers are buying elsewhere in tandem with the optimization work that they're doing. And -- so I think that's really the dynamic there.

讓我在幾個方面為您提供更多的資訊。第一，我們的客戶流失率只有個位數的百分比是完全客戶流失。所以幾乎所有 - 其餘的都是人們四處走動，調整足跡的大小，這種活動。我非常鼓舞人心地說，好吧，讓我們看看那些客戶和那些正在流失的客戶，然後告訴我他們的其他客戶——他們在平台其餘部分的活動水平是什麼。在大多數情況下，令人鼓舞的是，您會發現這些客戶在進行優化工作的同時也在其他地方購買。而且——所以我認為這確實是那裡的動態。

In terms of, I would say we've seen a little more of that in Europe, Jon. And that's probably because we were -- we had a little large footprint population there. So I think we're seeing it a little heavier there. But again, our guide says -- sort of assumes that we're going to continue to see some of this through the first half of this year with attenuation of that in the back half of '24.

就這一點而言，我想說我們在歐洲看到了更多這樣的情況，喬恩。這可能是因為我們在那裡有一些較大的足跡人口。所以我認為我們看到的情況有點重。但我們的指南再次表示，我們在某種程度上假設我們將在今年上半年繼續看到這種情況，並在 24 年下半年減弱。

Got it. And then secondly, I was curious about the xScale initiative and growth path in the Americas and kind of the puts and takes of pursuing that organically versus inorganically?

知道了。其次，我對 xScale 計劃和在美洲的成長路徑感到好奇，以及有機與無機追求這一目標的投入和收穫是什麼？

Yes. I mean I think we're very focused right now on organic. We would certainly not be -- we wouldn't necessarily not be open to inorganic. I just think it's a tougher thing in terms of identifying those assets. I think the multiples at which those things are trading are pretty heady, to say the least, and plenty of competition for those assets. And so I think we're primarily focused on organic. And -- but again, if circumstances and conditions change, one, our balance sheet is always ready. And I think we'd be open to that. But I think our focus is probably more so on the organic side.

是的。我的意思是，我認為我們現在非常關注有機食品。我們當然不會──我們不一定不對無機物持開放態度。我只是認為識別這些資產是一件更困難的事情。我認為至少可以說，這些資產的交易倍數相當令人興奮，而且這些資產的競爭也很激烈。所以我認為我們主要關注有機產品。而且，但同樣，如果情況和條件發生變化，第一，我們的資產負債表始終準備就緒。我認為我們對此持開放態度。但我認為我們的重點可能更多地集中在有機方面。

And our next call is Michael Rollins with Citi.

我們的下一個電話是花旗銀行的麥可‧羅林斯 (Michael Rollins)。

Just first following up on the point that you're making about customer optimization. I think in the past, you've used the analogy of managing the retail data centers is like a Tetris sport of fitting different pieces and deployments together. As there's some optimization, can you share your opportunity to resell any space or power capacity that you get back and how that plays into the dynamic for 2024?

首先跟進您提出的有關客戶優化的觀點。我認為在過去，您使用的類比是管理零售資料中心就像將不同的部分和部署安裝在一起的俄羅斯方塊遊戲。由於存在一些優化，您能否分享一下轉售您收回的任何空間或電力容量的機會以及這如何影響 2024 年的動態？

And then just secondly, just curious if you could unpack the constant currency organic growth range ex power of 7% to 8% in terms of what stabilized growth to be? And then within stabilized, how to think about the price ARPU component relative to the volume component?

其次，只是好奇您是否可以根據穩定成長的程度來解釋 7% 至 8% 的恆定貨幣有機成長範圍？然後在穩定的情況下，如何考慮相對於銷售組成部分的價格 ARPU 組成部分？

Okay. Maybe Keith talk about, but I'll jump in here on the second part of that, too, and we'll tag team it a bit. But let me catch your first one first. Yes, you're absolutely right. We long -- for many years talked about our -- of our business as a bit of a Tetris game in terms of figuring out how to get optimal returns from our capacity.

好的。也許基斯會談論，但我也會在第二部分跳到這裡，我們會稍微標記一下團隊。但讓我先抓住你的第一個。是的，你說得完全正確。多年來，我們一直將我們的業務視為一種俄羅斯方塊遊戲，旨在弄清楚如何從我們的產能中獲得最佳回報。

And I would tell you I think that given the increasing price environment, given the tendency for our churn to be a bit biased towards the large footprint side of things, we generally see churn as value accretive over time. That doesn't mean we want it all. It's -- but it's -- sometimes, we need it, and we actually may sort of work to get it to happen. And that's, as I said, that happens sometimes in Singapore in the markets like that. But there is inherently a trade-off between growth rates and return on invested capital. And what we're seeing is that even in high-demand markets, there is a vacancy drag. What I mean by that is the time frame that it takes to really fully replace churn with new revenue and that's particularly true when you're replacing a single large foot implementation with a large number of smaller deals, we're seeing probably a little longer vacancy drag than what we maybe would have thought.

我想告訴你，我認為考慮到價格不斷上漲的環境，考慮到我們的流失趨勢有點偏向於大足跡方面，我們通常認為流失會隨著時間的推移而增值。這並不意味著我們想要這一切。有時，我們需要它，而且我們實際上可能會做出一些努力來實現它。正如我所說，這種情況有時會在新加坡的市場中發生。但成長率和投資資本報酬率之間本質上存在權衡。我們看到的是，即使在高需求市場，也有空缺拖累。我的意思是，用新的收入真正完全取代客戶流失所需的時間框架，尤其是當你用大量較小的交易取代單一的大型實施時，我們看到的時間可能會更長一些空缺拖累比我們想像的要大。

And so while I think that the -- that kind of positive mark-to-market opportunity exists and improving our business mix has always been central to our ability to deliver increasing MRR per cab and return on investment sort of stabilized asset performance and importantly, AFFO per share, it is sometimes a revenue headwind for us. So we do see that on the churn, but I think there are positive aspects to it as well.

因此，雖然我認為這種積極的按市價計價的機會存在，並且改善我們的業務組合一直是我們提高每輛出租車的 MRR 和穩定資產績效的投資回報能力的核心，重要的是，每股AFFO ，有時對我們來說是收入的阻力。所以我們確實在客戶流失方面看到了這一點，但我認為它也有積極的方面。

As to the 7% to 8%, look -- if you look at stabilized assets, absent the PPI, they're in that 5% range. And so -- but that includes selling interconnection into them. It's probably not a ton of additional volume growth. They're operating at reasonably high levels of utilization. So I do think you're going to see some positive price on mark-to-market. And I think you're going to see continued interconnection sort of probably more, in our more traditional range. And then the rest of that, that growth is going to have come from the broader footprint, including our nonstabilized assets, which are probably growing at a slightly higher rate. Keith, anything to add further on that?

至於 7% 到 8%，如果你看看穩定資產，如果沒有 PPI，它們就在 5% 的範圍內。等等——但這包括向他們出售互連技術。這可能不會帶來大量額外的銷售成長。它們的利用率相當高。所以我確實認為你會看到以市價計算的一些正面的價格。我認為，在我們更傳統的範圍內，您可能會看到更多的持續互連。然後其餘的成長將來自更廣泛的足跡，包括我們的不穩定資產，這些資產的成長速度可能略高。基思，還有什麼要補充的嗎？

Yes , Mike, let me just add maybe just a few other quick points. We've always said that we think stabilized assets can grow 3% to 5% on a sort of constant currency and normalized basis. And this quarter, we're at that range 9% with the power price increases.

是的，麥克，讓我補充一些其他要點。我們一直說，我們認為穩定資產在貨幣不變和標準化的基礎上可以成長 3% 到 5%。本季度，隨著電價上漲，我們的價格上漲了 9%。

What are you going to feel -- what you're seeing this year being 2024, there's a couple of things. So we've neutralized currency, we've neutralized for all intents and purposes, the power price decreases. Again, that's going to have a roughly 30 basis point impact. I mean the power price, it will impact sort of the growth rate a little bit there. And so where we're really focusing is really the timing, right, to somebody else -- so what we're really focusing on is the timing.

到了 2024 年，你將會看到什麼，有幾件事。因此，我們已經中和了貨幣，我們已經中和了所有意圖和目的，電價下降了。同樣，這將產生大約 30 個基點的影響。我的意思是電價，它會對成長率產生一些影響。因此，對於其他人來說，我們真正關注的是時機，對吧——所以我們真正關注的是時機。

And so as Charles alluded to, had a little bit higher churn as we entered the -- exited the year. We have a little bit more higher churn at the front end of the year. And so when you look to the back end of the year, you actually get a much more attractive growth rate than what you start the year at. And so what it blends itself out, basically, you've got a 7% to 8% growth rate.

正如查爾斯所提到的，當我們進入這一年——退出這一年時，客戶流失率會更高一些。今年年初，我們的客戶流失率會更高一些。因此，當你展望今年年底時，你實際上會得到比年初更具吸引力的成長率。因此，基本上，它的混合效果是 7% 到 8% 的成長率。

But overall, when you sort of look at the business in and of itself, extremely strong pipeline. We're taking into consideration what we think is the timing delays. And although a reasonable book-to-bill interval, we still think that just how -- the speed at which things are converting from the pipeline into a billable event that's just taking longer. And then the other thing, I would just say is nonrecurring revenues for all intents and purposes, it's going to be roughly flat year-over-year. It's going to move around quarter-to-quarter, as we've talked about.

但總的來說，當你審視業務本身時，你會發現，管道非常強大。我們正在考慮我們認為的時間延遲。儘管預訂到開單的間隔是合理的，但我們仍然認為，事情從管道轉換為可計費事件的速度只是需要更長的時間。然後，我想說的另一件事是，無論出於何種意圖和目的，非經常性收入將與去年同期大致持平。正如我們所討論的，它會按季度變化。

Q4 was very rich, Q1 is still pretty darn good because we closed 2 large assets in the xScale space in January. And so we will get those -- some fees for that. But I think what's most important is understanding that the richness of the pipeline, the timing of the year and what we envision that we'll exit 2024 with, is what gives us the confidence that we can continue to drive the value into AFFO per share number and give you the growth.

第四季非常豐富，第一季仍然非常好，因為我們在一月份關閉了 xScale 領域的 2 個大型資產。所以我們會得到這些——一些費用。但我認為最重要的是了解通路的豐富性、今年的時機以及我們對 2024 年退出的設想，這讓我們有信心繼續推動 AFFO 每股價值的成長數字並給你成長。

Like I'd said -- the short story on it is that 7% to 8%, I think, is 3% to 5% is the way to think about the stabilized assets. And the balance of that is going to really need to come from the broader portfolio, which is probably going to have less mark-to-market juice. I think the 3% to 5% has to come in part from some juice in the mark-to-market opportunity that we have in the stabilized assets. Because those are the ones we are going to be rolling through. You probably have a little less than that in the non-stabilized portfolio because they are newer -- in newer contracts with probably less of a gap there. And then we're just going to have to continue to drive the volume on the gross bookings side.

就像我說的——簡單來說，我認為 7% 到 8% 是 3% 到 5% 是考慮穩定資產的方式。而其中的平衡確實需要來自更廣泛的投資組合，而以市值計價的收益可能會減少。我認為 3% 到 5% 的部分收益來自於我們在穩定資產中所擁有的按市值計價的機會。因為這些是我們將要經歷的。你可能比非穩定投資組合少一點，因為它們更新——在較新的合約中，那裡的差距可能更小。然後我們將不得不繼續提高總預訂量。

Our next caller is David Barden with Bank of America.

我們的下一個來電者是美國銀行的大衛·巴登。

Two, if I could, just real quick. Charles, we've been talking about the hybrid private public cloud infrastructure for the longest time. You brought up a new term that I hadn't heard before, the private AI. And I wondered if you could maybe elaborate a little bit on how that compares, contrasts or doesn't to our understanding of hybrid private-public cloud. What is that, the private AI architecture look like as far as Equinix is concerned?

兩個，如果可以的話，盡快。 Charles，我們談論混合私有公有雲基礎設施已經很久了。你提出了一個我以前從未聽說過的新術語：私人人工智慧。我想知道您是否可以詳細說明這與我們對混合私有-公有雲的理解有何比較、對比或不同之處。就 Equinix 而言，私有 AI 架構是什麼樣的呢？

And then second, Keith. Last quarter, we talked a lot about cabinets, (inaudible) per cab consumption and how that was evolving and the potential to bring a new number to the forefront, which would be something like a cabinet's equivalent billing number. Could you kind of elaborate a little bit on how that looked like in the fourth quarter and where we are in evolving that disclosure.

然後是第二位，基斯。上個季度，我們討論了很多關於機櫃、（聽不清楚）每輛出租車的消耗量、以及它是如何演變的以及將新數字帶到最前沿的潛力，這將類似於機櫃的等效賬單號碼。您能否詳細說明一下第四季度的情況以及我們在披露方面的進展。

Thanks, David. So on private AI, I do think there's strong similarities and some differences between what we think about private cloud or hybrid cloud. But I think the dynamic is quite similar. And in fact, I was looking at an industry survey that was recently given to me that showed that based on their discussion with respondents that we're implementing gen AI that about 32% of those respondents were doing that in public cloud exclusively. About 32% we're doing it in private cloud exclusively. And about -- and the balance 36% were doing it in a hybrid between some private cloud, some public cloud. And the folks who were doing it in public, many of them were doing it in more than 1 public cloud.

謝謝，大衛。因此，在私有人工智慧方面，我確實認為我們對私有雲或混合雲的看法既有很強的相似之處，也有一些差異。但我認為動態非常相似。事實上，我正在查看最近提供給我的一項行業調查，該調查顯示，根據他們與受訪者的討論，我們正在實施新一代人工智慧，其中約32% 的受訪者專門在公有雲中這樣做。大約 32% 我們專門在私有雲中進行。其餘 36% 的人在一些私有雲和一些公有雲之間的混合中進行。而那些在公共場合做這件事的人，他們中的許多人是在多個公有雲中做這件事的。

And so that dynamic, I think, is actually going to take shape even maybe faster than it did in sort of how we saw cloud large play out over the last several years. And I think the end state is going to be that 36% is going to be a much bigger number. In other words, a much larger number of people are going to be doing -- sort of prosecuting their AI agenda through both public and private infrastructure.

因此，我認為，這種動態實際上會比我們在過去幾年中看到的雲大規模發展的方式更快地形成。我認為最終狀態將是 36%，這將是一個更大的數字。換句話說，更多的人將透過公共和私人基礎設施來執行他們的人工智慧議程。

But I would say when we talk about where private AI happens, a lot of it is really focused on where people want to place their data. And this desire to -- and it is sometimes about the proprietary nature of that data and controlling it, et cetera, and it sometimes about the cost of moving data in and out of public clouds and other factors, including performance.

但我想說，當我們談論私人人工智慧發生的地方時，很多事情實際上都集中在人們想要放置資料的地方。這種願望有時與資料的專有性質及其控制等有關，有時與將資料移入和移出公有雲的成本以及包括效能在內的其他因素有關。

And so private AI, what we're seeing is people saying, look, I want to maintain my control over my enterprise data. And I want to place it somewhere that is cloud adjacent because the hyperscalers are innovating at such a rapid rate that I want to use their models, their tools, their -- and then you have this broader ecosystem outside of just the hyperscalers that is also evolving that people want to connect to.

因此，對於私有人工智慧，我們看到人們說，看，我想保持對企業資料的控制。我想將其放置在與雲端相鄰的地方，因為超大規模企業正在以如此快的速度進行創新，我想使用他們的模型、他們的工具、他們的——然後你就會在超大規模企業之外擁有更廣泛的生態系統，這也是人們想要連結的不斷發展。

And so cloud adjacent storage, Equinix Fabric and Fabric Cloud Router are incredible tools, and then you mix that with the colo opportunity that they might need to place GPU infrastructure and that kind of thing, and that's really what we see as the essence of the private AI opportunity. And so -- and it does, I think, seem to be taking shape in a way that's really positive for us. And then go ahead on the second piece on the -- I know that we had that question before, David, we figured that one might be coming.

因此，雲端相鄰儲存、Equinix Fabric 和 Fabric Cloud Router 都是令人難以置信的工具，然後您將其與他們可能需要放置 GPU 基礎設施之類的託管機會相結合，這確實是我們所認為的本質私人人工智慧機會。所以——我認為，它似乎正在以一種對我們來說非常積極的方式形成。然後繼續第二篇文章——我知道我們之前有過這個問題，大衛，我們認為可能會有一個人來。

Yes, David. So as it relates to some new metrics, we're continuing to review the data sets. The team, we're not clear that exactly what needs to be presented that we can comfortably put out to the market on a consistent basis. But one of the things we're thinking about, just to give you a sense, we're not ready for prime time yet, is looking at density that's over a threshold and the extent that there's a certain amount of density over some required threshold, we modify the cabinets. Again, as you all know, we report on a cabinet equivalent basis. So that's what we're thinking about because we think the cabinet is probably the best representation for you to get a sense of how we're utilizing the asset.

是的，大衛。因此，由於它涉及一些新指標，我們將繼續審查資料集。對團隊來說，我們並不清楚到底需要展示什麼，我們才能在一致的基礎上輕鬆地推出市場。但我們正在考慮的一件事，只是為了讓您感覺到，我們還沒有準備好迎接黃金時段，那就是查看超過閾值的密度，以及一定程度的密度超過某些所需閾值的程度，我們改造櫥櫃。同樣，眾所周知，我們是在內閣同等基礎上進行報告的。這就是我們正在考慮的，因為我們認為內閣可能是讓您了解我們如何利用資產的最佳代表。

That all said, we still -- I think we have to continue to be quite transparent about the overall density of the cabinets sold so that you can see sort of a trend line. We spent some energy thinking about power. Power just doesn't feel like the right metric to be sharing given the nature of our business model relative to others. Again, as you know, we're a retail player and it just -- it's just a different type of metric, and we're not sure that, that is a valuable metric.

話雖如此，我們仍然 - 我認為我們必須繼續對所售櫥櫃的整體密度保持相當透明，以便您可以看到某種趨勢線。我們花了一些精力思考權力。考慮到我們的商業模式相對於其他商業模式的本質，權力感覺並不是分享的正確衡量標準。再說一遍，如您所知，我們是一家零售企業，這只是一種不同類型的指標，我們不確定這是一個有價值的指標。

So looking forward, we're going to continue to work it, and we'll absolutely be sort of ready to go, I think, sometime in the first half of this year with either adjusted metrics or a different view on how we're going to represent our fill rates.

因此，展望未來，我們將繼續努力，我認為，我們絕對會在今年上半年的某個時候做好準備，要么調整指標，要么對我們的發展方式提出不同的看法代表我們的填充率。

Our next question is from Michael Elias with TD Cowen.

我們的下一個問題來自 TD Cowen 的 Michael Elias。

Two, if I may. One of the questions we get from investors is whether GPU-based compute is disintermediating CPU-based compute. And if so, how the legacy data centers designed at lower cabinet densities will able to handle that. Are you seeing customers swapping CPUs for GPUs for their existing data center deployments. If so, how do you mitigate essentially against the obsolescence risk in existing facilities? That's the first question.

如果可以的話，兩個。我們從投資者那裡得到的問題之一是基於 GPU 的計算是否正在取代基於 CPU 的計算。如果是這樣，以較低機櫃密度設計的傳統資料中心將如何處理這個問題。您是否看到客戶將其現有資料中心部署的 CPU 更換為 GPU？如果是這樣，您如何從根本上減輕現有設施的過時風險？這是第一個問題。

And then the second question is along a similar vein for AI inference. The thought is that the model [we need is] proximate to the data, which candidly lives within your facilities. Although I think there's also a question of whether that's CPU-based or GPU-based. As you look to capture demand for inference, how is the standard data center design for you, guys, evolving from both a power density perspective and a cooling architecture standpoint? Any color there would be helpful.

第二個問題與人工智慧推理類似。我們的想法是，[我們需要的]模型最接近數據，而數據坦率地存在於您的設施中。雖然我認為還有一個問題是基於 CPU 還是基於 GPU。當您希望捕捉推理需求時，夥計們，從功率密度角度和冷卻架構角度來看，標準資料中心設計如何發展？任何顏色都會有幫助。

There's lots there. All things -- thanks for the question, Michael. All things that are obviously top of discussion around Equinix in various places. I do think that -- look, GPUs are sort of something that is much more special-purpose dedicated compute that is -- that goes beyond the traditional CPU realm. I mean, I think is a very, very clear trend. That said, I don't think that it's a world where all things -- compute and all things, AI are necessarily done by GPUs. And I think that there is going to be a range of players that I think continue to evolve on the compute side of things to provide chips that meet various sets -- various purposes in the AI realm.

那裡有很多。一切——謝謝你的提問，麥可。所有這些顯然都是圍繞 Equinix 在不同地方討論的首要內容。我確實認為——看，GPU 是一種更特殊用途的專用運算——超越了傳統的 CPU 領域。我的意思是，我認為這是一個非常非常明顯的趨勢。也就是說，我不認為這是一個所有事物（運算和人工智慧）都必須由 GPU 完成的世界。我認為將會有一系列的參與者在運算方面繼續發展，以提供滿足人工智慧領域各種用途的晶片。

And so in terms of the -- and I don't -- we aren't seeing is this massive shift out or -- from CPU to GPU. What we're typically seeing is people adopting GPUs in parallel. And I think that even some things that are currently GPU-centric, we think over time, may actually be well served by either current or future generations of CPU. And so we're not seeing that as a big obsolescence trend.

因此，就我而言，我們沒有看到從 CPU 到 GPU 的大規模轉變。我們通常看到的是人們並行採用 GPU。我認為，即使是目前以 GPU 為中心的一些事情，我們認為隨著時間的推移，當前或未來幾代 CPU 實際上也可能會很好地服務。因此，我們並不認為這是一個大的過時趨勢。

And that relates a little bit to the second part of your question, and I think both on inference and training because I would say that the evolution of the data center design needs to respond to both of those things. I would say the more acute near-term evolution is on the training side. Because it's substantially more power dense and does require, I think, different thinking around that power density and the cooling to support it. And so I think the much higher average density design that we would probably put forward in a xScale build-out would be that more acute representation of the near-term change.

這與你問題的第二部分有一點關係，我認為兩者都與推理和訓練有關，因為我想說資料中心設計的演變需要對這兩件事做出反應。我想說，近期更劇烈的演變是在訓練方面。因為它的功率密度要高得多，我認為確實需要圍繞功率密度和支持它的冷卻進行不同的思考。因此，我認為我們可能會在 xScale 擴建中提出更高的平均密度設計，這將是近期變化的更敏銳的體現。

On the inference side, and I think broadly on the retail side, we are seeing densities -- power densities rise but at a much slower rate. And I think that our ability to implement liquid cooling as long as we have access to a chilled water loop, our ability to get liquid cooling into the facility to support high-density implementations is quite high. And in fact, we announced that we can do that in a large number of markets around the world.

在推理方面，我認為在零售方面，我們看到了密度——功率密度的上升，但速度要慢得多。我認為，只要我們能夠使用冷凍水迴路，我們就有能力實施液體冷卻，我們將液體冷卻引入設施以支持高密度實施的能力是相當高的。事實上，我們宣布我們可以在全球許多市場做到這一點。

So, I think, we're in a good position. I don't think we face a situation where we're going to have meaningful obsolescence even of our significantly more dated assets. And so -- especially as we can implement liquid cooling inside of those facilities. And so -- but I think we're -- those are things we continue to track, and I do think they're going to have to be very top of mind for us. And probably the overall pace of change in our design is going to increase in this next decade than it was in the one prior for sure.

所以，我認為，我們處於有利位置。我認為我們不會面臨這樣的情況：即使我們的資產明顯過時，我們也不會進行有意義的廢棄。因此，特別是當我們可以在這些設施內部實施液體冷卻時。所以——但我認為我們——這些是我們繼續追蹤的事情，我確實認為它們必須成為我們的首要考慮因素。在接下來的十年裡，我們設計的整體變化速度可能會比之前的十年加快。

Our next caller is Matt Niknam with Deutsche Bank.

我們的下一個來電者是德意志銀行的 Matt Niknam。

I will keep it brief, it's 2 follow-ups. Number one, what guides your expectation for churn to, I guess, improve slightly in the second half? Is there anything you have -- you're seeing in terms of visibility or anything guiding that expectation for improvement?

我會保持簡短，這是 2 個後續行動。第一，是什麼引導您對下半年客戶流失率的預期略有改善？您是否有任何東西——您在可見性方面看到了什麼，或者有什麼可以指導改進的期望？

And then secondly, in terms of just macro, you talked about some, I guess, deal slippage and dynamics that resemble maybe 1Q of '23 that you saw in 4Q. Just any updates in terms of -- we're now, I guess, halfway into 1Q. Have those deals closed? Are they still out there? Just any color, I guess, from what you've seen in the first 6 weeks of this year.

其次，就宏觀而言，我猜您談到了一些交易滑點和動態，可能類似於您在第四季度看到的 23 年第一季。我想，我們現在已經進入第一季的一半了。這些交易完成了嗎？他們還在外面嗎？我想，從今年前 6 週你所看到的顏色來看，就是任何顏色。

Yes. Let me take the second one first, Matt. We have -- some of that business has closed, some of that closed very quickly immediately after the quarter, and that's just sort of a natural turn of events. Some of it is in our commit for Q1 and some of it has rolled into Q2 or quarters forward from that. So very little lost. We did -- we have lost some of that, but very little of it. And so really primarily push forward.

是的。讓我先講第二個，馬特。我們已經——其中一些業務已經關閉，其中一些在季度結束後很快就關閉了，這只是事件的自然轉變。其中一些是我們對第一季的承諾，其中一些已經進入第二季或之後的幾個季度。所以損失很少。我們確實失去了一些，但失去的很少。所以真正主要是向前推進。

Again, as I said, Q4 did unfortunately look a little more like Q1. We would have [referred it] to look a lot more like Q2 and Q3. But that is the dynamic. And I think that we're -- it's hard to fully predict. But again our customers -- the sentiment we hear from customers is one, yes, we have tighter budgets. Yes, we're continuing to optimize. But boy, we sure are committed to what we're doing on the digital side of things. And yes, we want to talk to you about what we're doing in AI. And yes, we want to figure out where to place our data. But I think those things take a little time to translate into firm bookings trajectory.

正如我所說，不幸的是，第四季確實看起來更像第一季。我們會[提到它]看起來更像第二季和第三季。但這就是動態。我認為我們——很難完全預測。但我們的客戶再次強調——我們從客戶那裡聽到的情緒是，是的，我們的預算更加緊張。是的，我們正在繼續優化。但是，我們確實致力於我們在數字方面所做的事情。是的，我們想和您談談我們在人工智慧領域所做的事情。是的，我們想弄清楚將資料放置在哪裡。但我認為這些事情需要一點時間才能轉換為穩定的預訂軌跡。

And then as to why we feel a comfort level around mitigation of churn? One, we do have good visibility to our pipeline. In fact, our large deal churn, we've gotten very good forecasting. We saw a little bit more midsized churn in Q4, which contributed some to the elevation. And so I think we have to keep our eye very closely on that. And I don't have a ton more to offer you on that particular view. But I think that -- we do think that it is realistic for us based on what we're hearing in terms of appetite from customers that we would see some abatement in churn in the second half.

那為什麼我們對減少客戶流失感到滿意呢？第一，我們確實對我們的管道有很好的可見性。事實上，對於我們的大型交易流失，我們已經得到了非常好的預測。我們在第四季度看到了更多的中型客戶流失，這對價格上漲做出了一些貢獻。所以我認為我們必須密切注意這一點。對於這個特定的觀點，我沒有更多的內容可以提供給你。但我認為，根據我們從客戶那裡聽到的需求，我們確實認為下半年客戶流失率會下降，這對我們來說是現實的。

I'll add one more comment. It used to be, I would say, '21 and most of '22, I think there was a scarcity mindset relative to data center capacity. '23 really changed pretty meaningfully. The macro conditions changed. This sort of desire to tighten budgets, the desire to kind of offset the impact of PPI. I think all did play into what we were hearing was this very different appetite and a higher degree of optimization.

我會再添加一條評論。我想說，過去是 21 世紀和 22 世紀的大部分時間，我認為人們對資料中心容量有稀缺心態。 23年確實發生了非常有意義的改變。宏觀環境發生了變化。這種緊縮預算的願望，一種抵消生產者物價指數影響的願望。我認為我們所聽到的一切確實體現了這種截然不同的需求和更高程度的最佳化。

I would say, I think we're seeing the front end, though, of some of our customers who have at least talked to us about turning back some capacity, sort of come back and say, yes, don't put that back on the market yet because we're not sure we want to give up capacity in this market. And so that's the first time, I think, in a while that we've heard that kind of mindset. It's typically from larger service providers. But I think we're going to probably see -- we're starting to see the front end of that.

我想說的是，我認為我們看到了一些客戶的前端，他們至少與我們談論過恢復一些產能，然後回來說，是的，不要重新啟用它市場尚未開放，因為我們不確定是否要放棄該市場的產能。所以我想，這是我們一段時間以來第一次聽到這種心態。它通常來自較大的服務提供者。但我認為我們可能會看到——我們開始看到它的前端。

And so again, if macro does what we think it will do, which we would probably see some improving interest rates over the course of the year, I think we would see a generally improved macro environment, and I think that's sort of informing our guidance.

再說一遍，如果宏觀經濟按照我們的預期行事，我們可能會在今年看到利率有所改善，我認為我們會看到宏觀環境普遍改善，我認為這在某種程度上為我們的指導提供了信息。

Our next caller is Richard Choe with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個來電者是摩根大通的 Richard Choe。

I wanted to follow up on the competitive environment. Are you seeing deals go to competitors or in markets where you're tight? Are they just being pushed out?

我想跟進競爭環境。您是否看到交易流向競爭對手或您手頭緊俏的市場？他們只是被趕出去了嗎？

Yes. I mean, we certainly see some. It's not like we don't see any competitive loss. But our -- and I would say it's more typically on some of the larger footprint stuff. I think there are certain use cases that we're just -- so competitively distinguished that we have less -- that there's -- it's less likely that we'll see those. It's oftentimes more a timing issue.

是的。我的意思是，我們當然看到了一些。我們並不是沒有看到任何競爭損失。但我們的——我想說，它更典型地出現在一些佔地面積較大的東西上。我認為有些用例我們只是 - 競爭如此突出，以至於我們擁有的東西更少 - 我們不太可能看到這些用例。這通常更多的是一個時間問題。

I do think that where we're tight, customers sometimes have to find another way, right? And so we hate that, but it happens. But I wouldn't say overall, Rich, that there's a meaningful change in the overall competitive environment that we're operating in. As I said, you've always heard me say this, there's certainly -- certain markets where we have solid people with a solid value proposition that I think can compete effectively in certain markets. And I do think we're starting to see also just people thinking about how they want to allocate their workloads. And so the overall share of wallet continues to be more of the question in terms of how people are thinking about their spend going forward.

我確實認為，在我們緊張的地方，客戶有時必須尋找另一種方式，對嗎？所以我們討厭這種情況，但它確實發生了。但總的來說，Rich，我不會說我們所處的整體競爭環境發生了有意義的變化。正如我所說，你總是聽到我這麼說，當然，在某些市場上我們擁有堅實的基礎我認為擁有堅實價值主張的人可以在某些市場上有效競爭。我確實認為我們也開始看到人們在考慮如何分配工作量。因此，就人們如何考慮未來的支出而言，錢包的整體份額仍然是一個更大的問題。

And then in terms of pricing actions for the year, what's kind of implied in guidance? And should we expect that there are some price increases for interconnection this year?

那麼就今年的定價行動而言，指導中暗示了什麼？我們是否應該預期今年互連價格會上漲？

Yes. I mean, I think overall, we're seeing a really robust pricing environment, right? And so -- and probably many of the -- we put forward through a number of price increases. I do think we're evaluating a price increase on interconnection in the U.S. market. And I think -- but overall, I think that's certainly one contributing factor to our ability to continue to drive growth in the business. And I think that firm pricing is also what's really, I think, informing the really critical overall message here, which is a degree of confidence and a really attractive guide on the improving profitability of our business and the AFFO per share guidance, which is, in fact, at the -- sort of more towards the top end of our Analyst Day guide. And so -- and again, as we've said, that's really our lighthouse metric. We think it's the bedrock of value creation when you combine that with our dividend yield and overall creates a really attractive story.

是的。我的意思是，我認為總體而言，我們看到了一個非常強大的定價環境，對吧？因此——可能還有很多——我們提出了一系列的漲價措施。我確實認為我們正在評估美國市場互連價格的上漲。我認為，但總的來說，我認為這肯定是我們有能力繼續推動業務成長的因素之一。我認為，公司定價也真正傳達了真正關鍵的總體信息，這是一定程度的信心，也是提高我們業務盈利能力和 AFFO 每股指導的真正有吸引力的指南，即，事實上，在我們的分析師日指南的最頂端。因此，正如我們所說，這確實是我們的燈塔指標。我們認為，當你將其與我們的股息收益率結合並總體上創造一個真正有吸引力的故事時，這是價值創造的基石。

And our next caller is Frank Louthan with Raymond James.

我們的下一個來電者是 Frank Louthan 和 Raymond James。

Great. And just maybe to follow up on that, Charles. With some of this optimization with customers, any thought about customers possibly looking for some products you have such as cross connect or others trying to find that from others [are also less] as they're trying to optimize their budgets? Is there any concern there?

偉大的。也許只是為了跟進此事，查爾斯。透過對客戶進行一些優化，是否有想過客戶可能正在尋找您擁有的某些產品（例如交叉連接）或其他人試圖從其他人那裡找到這些產品（也更少），因為他們正在嘗試優化預算？這裡面還有什麼顧慮嗎？

Yes, Frank, we don't see that as typical. It's -- there -- in a lot of markets, I think, that our position is so -- it's not that we're the only game in town. And so yes, there is some substitution in cases, but it really is more us seeing that people saying, hey, things that they weren't using, things that they can consolidate on the higher-speed circuits, those kind of things are really the broader dynamics. Also, I would tell you that I think we're seeing that the positivity or the positive benefits of being able to have the full range of services available for our customers is really there.

是的，弗蘭克，我們不認為這是典型的。我認為，在很多市場上，我們的地位都是如此，但這並不是說我們是唯一的遊戲。所以，是的，案例中有一些替代，但我們更多地看到人們說，嘿，他們沒有使用的東西，他們可以在更高速的電路上整合的東西，這些東西真的是更廣泛的動態。另外，我想告訴你，我認為我們看到了能夠為我們的客戶提供全方位服務的積極性或積極的好處確實存在。

And so they may say, "Hey, your -- we think your metal offering really meets our immediate need here. It's our agile, it's more flexible. We may eventually move that into colocation over time" or sometimes the opposite. And -- so I think that the momentum, both in the data center services and, I think, increasingly on the Digital Services side, even though -- I think, we've got a lot of work to do, continue to evolve our go-to-market motion and our underlying cash systems and processes, et cetera to really support the slightly different business that an as-a-service model provides in digital services, but I think we'll continue to make good progress there. And I think our full portfolio of offerings is resonating well with the customer.

因此，他們可能會說，“嘿，我們認為你們的金屬產品確實滿足了我們的迫切需求。這是我們的敏捷性，更靈活。隨著時間的推移，我們最終可能會將其轉移到託管” ，有時恰恰相反。而且 - 所以我認為資料中心服務和數位服務方面的勢頭越來越大，儘管 - 我認為我們還有很多工作要做，繼續發展我們的服務進入市場的動議以及我們底層的現金系統和流程等，以真正支援即服務模式在數位服務中提供的略有不同的業務，但我認為我們將繼續在這方面取得良好進展。我認為我們的全套產品組合與客戶產生了良好的共鳴。

This concludes our fourth quarter earnings call. Thank you for joining us today.

我們的第四季財報電話會議到此結束。感謝您今天加入我們。

Goodbye. And this concludes today's conference. Thank you for participating. You may disconnect at this time, and have a great rest of your day.

再見。今天的會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。此時您可以斷開連接，並好好休息一天。