Data Center Investment News — 20/01/2023
CtrlS to cease being India-centric as plans for global data centre rollout are published
Private-equity-backed Indian data centre operator CtrlS Datacenters Limited said this Sunday that it is planning to foray into several new markets in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
The company confirmed it is actively exploring opportunities in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam.
Founded in 2007, CtrlS today operates over one million square feet of data centre space in India spread across eight data centres located in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
Sridhar Pinnapureddy, Chairman, CtrlS Datacenters Limited, said: “With data explosion, data centres are at the centre of the digital transformation. We will foray into these markets in a phased manner, and may enter into strategic ties with local partners wherever relevant.
PE-backed 1547 CSR planning $6bn data centre complex in East US
Fifteenfortyseven Critical Systems Realty is to build a US$6 billion, 100-acre data centre campus in Pennsylvania.
The campus sits on the Foote Mineral site with seventy-five acres in East Whiteland and 25 acres located in West Whiteland Township.
According to Daily Local News, Fifteenfortyseven Critical Systems Realty partnered with Green Fig Land to obtain East Whiteland zoning variance changes that would allow for two, million-square-foot, two-story structures and microwave towers.
Charlie Lyddane, who works with partner Greg Walters, of Green Fig Land, has been quoted saying that he wants to also “eventually” build on the 25 acres in West Whiteland Township.
Principal Asset Management backs 100MW hyperscale data centre in Oregon
Crane Data Centers Inc. and Principal Asset Management, the global investment solutions business for Principal Financial Group (Nasdaq: PFG), through its real estate investment team, said it will develop a 100+ MW data centre campus in Portland, US.
The site is located in Forest Grove, Oregon proximate to the Hillsboro data centre ecosystem with multiple fibre paths, recycled water for cooling, and an onsite substation connected to the transmission grid.
The first phase of the project includes a ~300,000 square-foot facility on a 35-acre site with an initial 50 MW of capacity with plans to expand to over 100+ MW.
Matt Pfile, CEO, Crane, said: “We are honoured to partner with Principal Real Estate Investors to develop a new data centre campus in the Portland market.
Airtel to Set up Hyperscale Data Center in Hyderabad with Rs 2,000 Crore Investment
Bharti Airtel Group, an Indian telecommunications services company, has announced that it will be investing Rs 2,000 crore for setting up a large hyperscale data center in Hyderabad and is estimated to be deployed in the next five to seven years.
The announcement was made at the Telangana Lounge at Davos, Switzerland in the presence of Telangana Minister for IT and Industries K T Rama Rao, Principal Secretary for Industries Jayesh Ranjan, and the Group’s founder-chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, an official release said.
The Bharti Airtel Group, through its data center arm, Nxtra Data Centers, will invest the amount as capital investment for the infrastructure which will further attract investments from their customers, it said.
The facility will be a hyperscale data center with a capacity of 60 megawatts (MW) of IT load for the first phase. It will incorporate the latest technologies in cooling and security.
eStruxture Data Centers secures $127 million in financing
eStruxture Data Centers (EDC) has secured CDN$170 million (US$127m) in financing.
The Canadian data center provider secured the credit facility from a variety of financial institutions, including Scotiabank, National Bank, BMO, and Deutsche Bank, many of which have been long-term investors in EDC.
The company said the financing will enable EDC to further expand across Canada.
“We continue to experience an increased demand in data center capacity across all the markets that we serve and this financing will boost our ability to bring additional capacity online, faster,” says Todd Coleman, founder, president, and CEO of eStruxture.
CyrusOne acquires 57 acres in Ashburn, Virginia
CyrusOne has acquired a plot of land in the Ashburn area of Virginia’s Loudoun County.
The KKR-owned company this week announced the purchase of a 57.6-acre land parcel in Loudoun County, Virginia, located near the intersection of the Dulles Greenway toll road and Belmont Ridge Road.
The company said the site will be the future location of a new data center campus targeting hyperscale cloud providers and large-scale companies.
“CyrusOne is excited to expand its investment in Loudoun County where we successfully operate 10 data centers at five campus locations in one of the most important digital gateway markets in the United States,” said CyrusOne CEO Eric Schwartz. “With strong demand in the Northern Virginia market, we are positioned to initiate development consistent with the existing zoning on this new site and deliver world-class digital infrastructure that meet the growing needs of our customers.”
Saudi Arabian glassmaker leases land to data center developer in Dammam
Saudi Arabian glass maker Zoujaj has leased a plot of land in Dammam to a data center developer.
Via a Saudi Exchange update, glass manufacturer Zoujaj (also known as The National Company For Glass Industries) this week announced it had leased out a plot of land in Dammam city to a developer.
“The Third Data Investment Company will utilize the land to establish a data center. The Third Data Investment Company is expected to start developing the site during the current fiscal year 2023,” the company said.
The land is leased to Third Data for 15 years at an annual rental amount of SAR 2.5 million (US$ 665,476) per annum with an increase of five percent after every three years.
MDC to open data center in San Diego, California
MDC Data Centers (formerly McAllen Data Centers) is developing a data center in San Diego, California.
The company, which focuses on providing colocation and interconnection services from facilities along the US-Mexico border, this week announced its new San Diego facility will be ready to begin operations in Q2 of 2023.
The new location, at 7014 Manya Cir, was announced in partnership with Mexican telco Vívaro Telecom (formerly Marcatel). MDC said the facility will provide redundant access to fiber-crossing routes connecting San Diego to the state of Baja California in Mexico via two independent routes through Otay Mesa and San Ysidro.
Specifications weren’t shared. Google Maps suggests the property was most recently a warehouse/manufacturing facility used by packaging design company O.A.P. Packaging Inc.
Raxio planning data center in Luanda, Angola
Pan-African data center firm Raxio is expanding into Angola.
This week the company announced that it is investing and establishing ‘Raxio Angola,’ which it says will be the first carrier-neutral Tier III data center in the country.
Raxio has secured a plot of land located in the Cacuaco district on the outskirts of Luanda in close proximity to submarine cable landing sites and plans to build a 6MW facility. The new data center is set to be commissioned in February 2024.
Robert Mullins, CEO of Raxio Group, said: “Our decision to build Angola’s first Tier III carrier neutral facility highlights our commitment to our strategy to deliver the vital digital infrastructure needed on the African continent. Angola has a growing demand for connectivity and related services. It is also geographically placed to become a connectivity hub in the region, making it an important market for our growing portfolio..”
Talen Energy finishes construction on first data center at Pennsylvania nuclear station
Talen Energy subsidiary Cumulus Data has completed construction on the first building at its nuclear-powered Susquehanna data center campus in Pennsylvania.
The company this week announced the construction of the powered shell for its first 48MW, 300,000 square foot (28,870 sqm) data center is complete and the facility is available for lease.
First announced by DCD in July 2021, the 1,200-acre campus draws power from Talen Energy’s neighboring 2.5GW nuclear power station in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station (SSES).
Around six facilities – a combination of hyperscale and cryptomining facilities – are planned on the 475MW campus. After breaking ground in December 2021, the first two facilities – one hyperscale and one cryptomine – were originally set to be completed in mid-2022.
AirTrunk to build 150MW data centre across strait from Singapore
Australian data centre operator AirTrunk is to build a 150MW data centre in Malaysia, taking the group’s total capacity to 1.35GW.
The new data centre campus, called JHB1, will cover 10.3 hectares of land in Johor Bahru, which sits at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula and is connected to Singapore via a kilometre-long causeway across the Straits of Johor.
CTO Damien Spillane (pictured) said: “With its flexible designs and innovations driving energy and water efficiencies in tropic climates, JHB1 will be the most sustainable data centre in Malaysia. In line with our net zero by 2030 target, we are working with our customers to source renewable energy to match electricity consumption at the data centre.
JHB1 will serve a major cloud availability zone for AirTrunk’s customers. The campus will also be connected to regional technology hubs including Singapore.
Edged Energy planning 210,000 sq ft data center in Atlanta, Georgia
Data center company Edged Energy is reportedly looking to develop a data center in Atlanta’s Fulton County.
First reported by BizJournal, a building permit was recently filed in Atlanta, Georgia for a nearly 210,000-square-foot (19,500 sq ft), two-story data center at a former railway depo known as Tilford Yard. Plans show the project is called ‘Edged’.
BJ reports sustainable infrastructure company Endeavour, the parent company of Edged Energy, is behind the project, according to a source familiar with the plans.
Endeavour reportedly has about 40 acres of land under contract from Atlanta development and investment company TPA Group. The sale price has not been disclosed, but Endeavour could pay close to $2 million per acre. Real estate advisory firm KBC Advisors is representing Endeavour in Atlanta.
Patrizia and Mitsui launch new APAC infrastructure investment vehicle
Real estate asset management firm Patrizia and Japanese conglomerate Mitsui have set up a new investment fund targeting infrastructure in APAC.
The two companies this week launched a new flagship discretionary sustainable infrastructure strategy in APAC. Patrizia said it is the firm’s largest-ever infrastructure strategy dedicated to the region.
The new fund is aiming for sustainable infrastructure assets under management of up to $1 billion across Australia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, New Zealand, and Taiwan, as well as in select developing Asian markets.
The companies said the fund will primarily focus on mid-market brownfield opportunities in the energy, digital, social, and mobility sectors, targeting assets such as solar and wind farms, battery storage, data centers, social infrastructure, and EV charging stations.
Penta Infra buys Sungard AS data center and colocation business in France
European data center firm Penta Infra has acquired Sungard’s data center and colocation business in Paris, France.
The company this week announced it had acquired the data center campus in the Lognes area of the French capital. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Penta Infra said it will also acquire the colocation business and continue to deliver data center services ‘to the majority’ of the existing client base.
The three-building campus, located at 93 Cr des Petites Écuries and consisting of two data centers and a workplace facility, covers more than 16,000 sqm (172,000 sq ft) and reportedly has “significant opportunities” for expansion. Penta said the site will be developed into a 10MW data center.