Data Center Investment News — 07/04/2023
Equinix plans $180m expansion to Dallas Infomart data center
Equinix plans to expand the iconic Infomart building in Dallas, Texas.
The $180 million expansion follows a 2020 addition for $142m, which Equinix made two years after acquiring the building at 1990 N. Stemmons Freeway for $800m.
The Dallas Morning News reports that the new expansion will add more than 211,000 square feet (19,600 sq m), and will include a four-story office and a four-story data center, according to planning documents filed with the state.
The Infomart was originally built to house a permanent trade show for information technology vendors, and the design was based on the Crystal Palace, a giant glass and steel structure that served a similar purpose in Victorian Britain.
Google launches cloud region in Doha, Qatar
Google has launched a new cloud region in Doha, Qatar.
First announced in March 2020, this week the search and cloud company announced that its new Google Cloud region in Doha is now open.
“This new region is a strong step towards building regional capacity that meets the needs of the Qatari digital economy, from availability and data residency, to digital sovereignty and sustainability,” said Ghassan Kosta, Qatar Country Manager, Google Cloud.
Specifications around the new region weren’t shared, but the company noted it launches with three availability zones and the standard set of GCP services available including Compute Engine, Cloud Run, Cloud SQL, and others.
Edge Centres acquires Hyson International
Edge Centres has acquired US hosting provider Hyson.
M&A consultancy Corum Group last week announced that Missouri-based Hyson International had been bought by the Australia-based Edge company. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Hyson describes itself as a provider of data center infrastructure and hosting services, specializing in dedicated servers, VMware private cloud, colocation, and blockchain services to SMBs via its Cybercon subsidiary. The company operates space in a Netrality facility in St. Louis, Missouri.
“We are excited to support this acquisition. Edge Centres is on a mission to provide high-performance and cost-effective Edge data center solutions to solve the needs of its thriving local markets: Australia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Thailand. This transaction will allow Edge Centres to expand that vision into the US and accelerate its strategy,” said William Hill, SVP of Corum Group.
Indonesia telco ups investment towards data centre division
Telecommunications company PT Indosat Tbk (ISAT) or Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (IOH) has announced it will invest in expanding its data centre operations.
In a disclosure of information on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) website, quoted Monday 3 April, Indosat management said that it would carry out additional activities including electricity, construction, digital technology equipment rental and office machinery, to support the company’s main business activities, “especially for cloud hosting services”.
The disclosure is the basis for consideration for ISAT shareholders to approve the plan to change business activities, in this case in the form of additional business activities that ISAT will propose to the general meeting of shareholders (GMS).
In its feasibility study report, the addition of ISAT’s business activities considers the assumptions that have been made, along with conditions where the addition of business activities does not require initial cash. Therefore, the additional business activities are able to fulfil their own funds.
MN Holdings to build $600m HPC data centre
Underground utilities and substation engineering company MN Holdings Berhad (MN 控股有限公司) has entered into a partnership with China’s Shanghai DC-Science Co Ltd (DCS) to develop its first high-performance data centre in Malaysia.
The project has an overall estimated value of over US$600 million and was signed by MN Holding’s wholly-owned subsidiary Mutu Nusantara Sdn Bhd and DC-Science on 1 April 2023.
The data centre project is part of a series of foreign direct investments secured for Malaysia in conjunction with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s maiden visit to China on March 30-April 2, 2023.
Spanning across a 20-acre site at the Sedenak Tech Park, Johor, the data centre will be DC-Science’s first location outside China, having set up more than 300 data centres across the home country.
New Zealand government building a $188m data center at Auckland air force base
The New Zealand government has been building a secret NZ$300 million (US$188m) data center at its Auckland air force base.
The project was announced by Defence and GCSB minister Andrew Little, who said that funding was first injected into the site in 2019. Since then, there have been 150 construction workers on site. The data center is expected to be finished in 2025.
The data center, housed at the Whenuapai air force base, was kept a secret until just last week as the government is attempting to be ‘more upfront about national security challenges.’
“Construction has progressed to the point it’s now going to be visible and it’s time to bring the public in,” said Little.
French data centre operator Data4 unveils new $1 billion Paris campus
French data centre operator Data4 has unveiled plans to develop a c. €1 billion (US$1.1 billion) data centre campus south of Paris.
The project will be developed on a Nokia site in Nozay, which the operator has already bought. The location is a few kilometres away from Data4’s flagship site in Marcoussis, Essonne. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The 22-hectare site will house eight data centre buildings at full build with a total surface area of 32,000 square metres and an installed electrical capacity of 120 MW.
The company expects to have the site completed by 2030, with a phased infrastructure rollout till then.
1.4 million sq ft data center campus proposed in Catlett, Virginia
A US real estate developer is looking to develop a new data center park in Virginia’s Fauquier County.
Fauquier Now reports that Headwaters Site Development is planning to develop a 66-acre industrially zoned property in Catlett.
The pre-application is requesting to develop up to 1.4 million square feet (130,050 sqm) of data centers on the east of Catlett Road on Route 28 and north of Gaskins Lane.
County zoning ordinance doesn’t allow for the construction of data centers on industrially zoned properties, but Headwaters aims to rezone the site as a business park “to unlock data centers as an allowable use.”
Equinix to build second data center in Montreal, Canada
Equinix has announced plans for a new data center in Montreal, Canada.
The company this week announced a new International Business Exchange (IBX) facility in the Quebec providence that is expected to open in the second half of 2023.
Known as MT2, the first phase will offer 500 racks from Q3. According to the company’s Q4 2022 earnings presentation, phase two is set to add a further 500 racks by Q4 of this year.
Andrew Eppich, managing director at Equinix Canada, said: “MT2 represents a major milestone in our investment to bring the best of Equinix to Canada and the best of Canada to the world.
DataBank secures $325 million credit facility
US colocation provider DataBank has secured a new $325 million credit facility to further fund its expansion plans.
Led by TD Securities, the facility includes a $175 million, five-year Term Loan; a $125m Delayed Draw Term Loan; and a $50m revolving credit line.
The company said the financing will be used for general working capital and success-based CapEx expenditures related to the company’s deployment of new and expanded data center capacity at its campuses in Salt Lake City, Denver, Atlanta, and New York.=
“This additional financing allows DataBank to fully implement its aggressive expansion roadmap,” said Kevin Ooley, DataBank president & CFO. “Our ability to swiftly complete this transaction reflects both investors’ confidence in our Edge strategy as well as DataBank’s proven ability to execute on its business plans.”
Vantage Data Centers enters investment partnership worth $2.7 billion
Hyperscale data centre developer and operator Vantage Data Centers has entered into a definitive agreement to form an Investment Partnership with a consortium of investors.
The consortium is led by funds affiliated with the investment management platform of digital infrastructure investor DigitalBridge Group, Inc., asset manager MEAG and asset management company Infranity (together with other investors, the “Investor Consortium”).
The transaction values the Investment Partnership, which is related to certain stabilised European assets, at approximately €2.5 billion (approximately $2.7 billion), including Vantage’s stake.
The additional capital raised by the Investor Consortium will be used to support the continued growth of Vantage’s EMEA data centre platform.
SUNeVision cuts ribbon on MEGA Gateway data centre
Hong Kong data centre operator SUNeVision Holdings Ltd. (SEHK: 1686) has cut the ribbon on its hyperscale data centre MEGA Gateway located in Tsuen Wan.
MEGA Gateway, whose delivery has been delayed due to Hong Kong’s stringent COVID-19 restrictions, is SUNeVision’s seventh portfolio facility part of the MEGA-i family and at opening it has achieved 65% precommitments from major customers.
An Extension of MEGA-i to be the Next Connectivity Hub MEGA Gateway is positioned as the next connectivity hub extended from MEGA-i through a dedicated dark fibre network.
MEGA Gateway features 200,000 square feet of gross floor area and 20MW power capacity with on-premise and dedicated-use 132kV substation.