Hyperscale connectivity drives $3 billion in data centre projects

Equinix has provided details on its $3 billion xScale data center program, including projects currently under development in Brazil, France, Japan and other markets. This planned global expansion, financed with the support of joint venture partners, will serve the growing demands of hyperscale companies that are deploying infrastructure at Equinix, while providing Equinix’s ecosystem of 10,000 customers with access to these strategic providers.

Equinix xScale data centers serve the unique core workload deployment needs of a targeted group of hyperscale companies, including the world’s largest cloud service providers. With xScale data centers, hyperscale companies can add core deployments to their existing access point footprints at Equinix, enabling their growth on a single platform that can immediately span 63 global metros and offer direct interconnection—within a vibrant set of ecosystems—to their customers and strategic business partners.

Rapid growth of the digital economy has driven increasing demand for global connectivity and hybrid multicloud solutions. For years, the world’s largest cloud service providers, including Alibaba Cloud, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, have partnered with Equinix to leverage its global platform of more than 220 data centers to directly connect to their strategic business partners and customers. As these companies continue to expand, they require capacity at scale to match their internal compute, storage and edge cache requirements.

“Equinix xScale facilities offer hyperscale companies the unique value of Platform Equinix, including access to business ecosystems, interconnection services and local market knowledge around the world,” said Krupal Raval, Managing Director, xScale, Equinix. “Our xScale data centers are engineered to meet the technical, operational, and pricing requirements of hyperscale companies that require large amounts of space and power to support massive scaling across thousands of servers for cloud, big data analytics or storage tasks, with 10, 20, or even 50 megawatts of power, all while meeting Equinix’s sustainability commitments.”

Opening of TY12x in Tokyo

On March 1, Equinix opened its first xScale data center in Tokyo. TY12x. Equinix has had early success with TY12x, securing an anchor tenant committed to the full phase one capacity and a significant portion of phase two capacity. 

o   TY12x is Equinix’s first xScale data center in Asia. It will provide more than 186,000 square feet (about 17,300 square meters) of colocation space and will support 54 megawatts of power to hyperscale customers all phases are complete.

o   TY12x operates in close proximity to 11 International Business Exchange™ IBX® data centers in Tokyo.

o   The Tokyo metro is a strategic hub for financial services companies, internet providers, and cloud, content and mobility service providers. Equinix data centers server as strategic network hubs in Tokyo, where international and major local carriers meet. In addition, Equinix in Tokyo provides proximity to leading regional internet exchanges including access to JPIX, JPNAP and BBIX. 

Additional xScale Data Centers in Asia-Pacific

In addition to TY12x, the OS2x xScale data center in Osaka is currently under development and is expected to open in Q4 2021. Equinix also anticipates developing one additional xScale data center in Japan in the future. The three xScale data centers in Japan are expected to collectively deliver approximately 138 megawatts of power to hyperscale customers in Japan.

Equinix and GIC complete Joint Venture Agreement in Asia-Pacific

In Q4 2020, Equinix completed the formation of the greater than US$1.0 billion initial joint venture in the form of a limited liability partnership with GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, to develop and operate xScale data centers in Japan.

o   TY12x, OS2x and a planned future xScale data center in Japan are included in this initial joint venture.

EMEA

Opening of PA9x in Paris

In February 2021, Equinix opened its second xScale data center in Paris named PA9x, which is currently fully leased by a single hyperscale tenant. 

o   PA9x is Equinix’s second xScale data center in Paris and will provide more than 29,600 square feet (about 2,750 square meters) of colocation space and support 10 megawatts of power to hyperscale customers when complete.

o   PA9x operates as part of a campus with PA2 and PA3 in Saint-Denis, France.

o   This metropolitan area is a strategic hub for the exchange of traffic between the U.S. and Europe, and a termination point for many submarine cable systems in the Mediterranean, bringing suppliers from Africa, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific to Europe.

o   The strategic location of Equinix’s facilities in Paris provides a high level of carrier connectivity, making them ideal locations to procure bandwidth and optimize network performance.

Additional xScale Data Centers in Europe

Six xScale facilities are currently operating or are under development in Europe. Collectively, these sites will have the capacity to deliver approximately 106 megawatts of power to hyperscale customers in Europe once all are operational. These sites include:

o   Paris:  PA8x which opened in Q1 2019 and PA9x which opened in February 2021

o   London:  LD11x which opened in February 2021, and LD13x which opened in Q4 2019

o   Frankfurt: FR9x which is expected to open in Q4 2021, and FR11x which is expected to open in Q2 2022

Equinix and GIC Joint Venture Agreement in Europe

In Q4 2019, Equinix completed the formation of the greater than US$1.0 billion initial joint venture in the form of a limited liability partnership with GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, to develop and operate xScale data centers in Europe. 

Latin America

SP5x in São Paulo

In Q3 2021, Equinix plans to open its first xScale data center in Latin America. SP5x is located in São Paulo, Brazil, and is in close proximity to the Equinix SP4 IBX data center. It will be connected by optical fiber to the existing four Equinix São Paulo IBX data centers and will support five megawatts of power to hyperscale customers in its first phase.