Nov 5 (Reuters) - Iron Mountain IRM.N beat Wall Street estimates for a key earnings metric in the third quarter on Wednesday, as businesses turn to its data centers amid rising demand for AI applications.

Demand for computing power needed to train artificial intelligence 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 $1.32 per share for the July-September period, above analysts' estimates of $1.25 according to data compiled by LSEG.

Its AFFO forecast of $1.39 per share for the fourth quarter also beat estimates of $1.38.

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 BA.N, Akamai Technologies AKAM.O and Coca-Cola KO.N.

Revenue for the quarter ended September 30 rose about 13% from a year earlier to $1.75 billion, driven by a 16% increase in services and a 10% gain in storage rentals.

(Reporting by Arnav Mishra; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)

((Arnav.Mishra@thomsonreuters.com;))