Iron Mountain raises annual forecasts on AI-fueled data center boom

April 30 (Reuters) - Iron Mountain ‌raised its ​annual ​forecast on Thursday, as companies increasingly rely on its data centers to meet growing demand for ‌artificial intelligence capabilities.

Demand for computing power needed to ⁠train AI models and run applications such as ChatGPT has driven a ‌data center boom, expanding ‌the market for companies such as Iron Mountain that lease such spaces.

• Iron Mountain, which operates as a real ​estate investment trust, reported adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) of $1.43 per share for the first quarter, above analysts' estimates ⁠of $1.26 according to data compiled by LSEG.

• The company is also benefiting from ​stable cash flows from its core storage and records management business, which has a large and ​diversified customer base including Boeing, Akamai ‌Technologies and Coca-Cola.

• It now expects full-year revenue between $7.83 billion and $7.93 billion, compared with estimates ⁠of $7.74 billion. The company's previous forecast was between $7.63 billion and $7.78 billion.

• The annual AFFO is expected between $5.79 and $5.86 per share, compared ⁠with estimates of $4.68 per share. The prior expectation was between $5.69 and $5.79

• "Looking ​ahead, we are accelerating our cross-selling efforts in ALM and Digital and we are off to a strong start to the year in ‌data center leasing, where we have already leased 32 megawatts through April," President and CEO, ‌William Meaney said.

• Iron Mountain posted first-quarter revenue of $1.94 billion, ⁠compared with estimates of $1.86 ‌billion.

• Additionally, the company's ​board also declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.864 per share of common stock on Thursday.

(Reporting by ‌Arunesh Sinha)

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