Data Center Investment News — 16/06/2023
Empyrion DC breaks ground on its first South Korean data centre in Seoul’s prime Gangnam district
Empyrion DC Pte. Ltd. (“Empyrion DC”), a Singapore-headquartered next-generation data centre operator, announced the groundbreaking of its first South Korean facility today. Located in Yangjae-dong, Seocho-gu, the 40 megawatt Gangnam Data Centre (“GDC”) will be the first new data centre facility to be constructed in the prime Gangnam area in the last decade.
The 30,714 square metres nine-storey GDC marks the expansion of Empyrion DC’s carrier-neutral platform across Asia Pacific focusing on network-dense locations in key cities. The facility will be strategically situated near Seoul’s technology and business hubs and is scheduled to be ready in the first half of 2025.
Sustainability is a key strategy in the development of GDC, which incorporates a state-of-the-art cooling system and the use of high-efficiency Building Integrated Photovoltaic Panels (BIPV) on its building façade. As part of its social contribution efforts, Empyrion DC will also make a donation to the Community Chest of Korea to support low-income families in the Seocho district.
“South Korea is a leader in digital adoption and is a strategic growth market for cloud and enterprise companies,” said Mark Fong, CEO of Empyrion DC. “We are committed to supporting our customers’ future growth and are delighted to offer sustainable digital infrastructure solutions that can meet their demand for scalability and flexibility in this region.”
Equinix opens up on extra capital expenditure into Malaysia’s data centre operations
Digital infrastructure REIT Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX) has unveiled plans to open a second data centre in Malaysia as the country continues to attract data centre foreign investment on the back of strong cloud services demand and adoption.
The new KL1 facility located in Cyberjaya will be the group’s first data centre in Kuala Lumpur and is set to open in Q1 2024.
It follows Equinix’s expansion announcement last year to enter Malaysia with a building in Johor named JH1.
KL1 will provide an initial capacity of 450 cabinets and colocation space of 1,300 square metres. When fully built, it will provide a total of 900 cabinets and colocation space of 2,630 square metres.
NYSE-listed DigitalBridge Group, Inc. bolsters leadership with multiple hires
Digital infrastructure investor house DigitalBridge Group, Inc. (NYSE: DBRG) has announced several appointments within its senior management team.
The leadership appointments and promotions include:
Geoffrey Goldschein, who previously served as Managing Director and General Counsel of DBRG’s Investment Management division, has been appointed as Chief Legal Officer and Company Secretary.
Francisco Sorrentino has joined DigitalBridge as Chief People Officer. Sorrentino has a wealth of experience in talent acquisition, organisational development and employee engagement.
Stephen Stryker has joined DigitalBridge as Chief Information Officer, succeeding Mark Serwinowski, who will be retiring.
Justin Chang, who has led DigitalBridge’s expansion into the Asia Pacific region as Managing Director, Head of Asia, has been promoted to the role of Senior Managing Director.
Brookfield, Digital Realty to invest $300m in extra India data centre capacity
Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR) and Brookfield Infrastructure Partners are to embark on a new joint investment in India under the BAM Digital Realty JV flag.
The project designed for Mumbai is set to be the second under the arrangement and the investment is estimated to reach ₹2,000-2,500 crore, or US$237-296.25 million, according to sources.
The capital would be used for the erection of a 35-40 megawatts (MW) campus sitting on a 2.15-acre plot in Chandivali in the western suburbs.
“As a thumb rule, around US$6-7 million of investment is needed to build each megawatt. So, the company is likely to invest ₹2,500 crore to build this centre,” one of the three people familiar with the matter told mint.
I Squared Capital’s nLighten acquires Euclyde, boosting digital infrastructure platform
nLighten, a digital infrastructure platform of I Squared Capital through its ISQ Global Infrastructure Fund III, has acquired French regional data centre platform Euclyde Data Centers.
The purchase will see six facilities in Sophia Antipolis, Lyon, Strasbourg, Besançon and Paris move under the nLighten umbrella.
Along with nLighten’s existing operations in Germany, the acquisition of Antibes- headquartered Euclyde establishes the nLighten platform in two of Europe’s core data centre markets.
nLighten said it intends to accelerate both greenfield and M&A expansion in France following the acquisition.
Endeavour breaks ground on largescale Chicago data centre
Endeavour subsidiary Edged Energy has broken ground on the construction of a data centre facility in the Chicago-area city of Aurora, USA.
The new 65 acres campus, known as Aurora Tech Park, will be constructed in three phases, with the first building scheduled for completion in June 2024.
Located on the southwest corner of Bilter Road and Eola Road, the multi-building development has been designed with waterless cooling and energy-efficient systems that enable a 1.15 Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE).
The ground-breaking event was attended by Aurora city officials Edged Energy executives, real estate developer Seefried Industrial Properties and local utility provider ComEd.
Nabiax expands Alcala data center in Spain to 22MW
Data center provider Nabiax has begun expansion works on its Alcala Data Center in Spain.
The company is intending to expand the facility’s capacity by 47 percent by the end of the year, bringing it from 15.1MW to 22MW. The facility is located in Alcalá de Henares, northeast of Madrid.
Emilio Díaz, CEO of Nabiax, said: “We are happy to continue advancing to be the leading reference in the sector, but also to complete the expansion of one of the most advanced centers in all of Europe and, therefore, reinforcing the role of Spain as a true digital hub of international reference. From Nabiax, we will continue working to support the digitization of the country and the projects of the most ambitious and innovative companies in our market, betting on sustainable and efficient growth”.
Once this expansion phase is complete, the company is contemplating three additional expansions: two of 15MW, and one of 7MW, seeing the campus reach 26,000 sqm across 28 dall halls. Eventually, Nabiax hopes the facility could reach 100MW.
Digital Realty plans data center on former sugar silo site in Marseille, France
Digital Realty is to build a data center on the site of a sugar silo in Marseille, France.
First reported by Businews.fr, Digital Realty is to build a new data center on the site of an old sugar silo at the Marseille-Fos Port, having won a tender with its bid to take over and build on the land.
The new MRS5 facility will reportedly span around 10,000 sqm (107,640 sq ft) and be ready for service by the end of 2025. Gomet reports the company will be investing €260 million in the project.
The Grand Port Maritime de Marseille (GPMM) first called for expressions of interest in the AMI Sugar Silo back in December 2021. The vacant complex includes a 3,600 sqm storage building, weighing tower, truck delivery dock, and conveyor belt transfer equipment.
Web Werks and Iron Mountain joint venture to invest $170m in Navi Mumbai data center
The Web Werks and Iron Mountain joint venture (JV) is set to invest Rs 1,400 crore (~$170m) in a data center in Navi Mumbai, India.
The proposed facility, known as Mumbai-3, will have a capacity of 32MW and be designed to a Tier III standard. The data center is currently expected to go live in the second half of 2025, with the JV having already acquired a five-acre parcel for the development.
“We are excited to be growing our data center campus in Mumbai at pace and scale by securing land to build our third facility in one of India’s most important data hubs. This investment reflects our commitment to build highly connected, secure, and compliant data centers in India to serve our hyperscale, network, content, and enterprise customers,” said Mark Kidd, EVP & global general manager, Iron Mountain Data Centers.
Mumbai-3 has already received approval for a power substation with 120MVA for the data center’s future expansion. The facility, as its name suggests, is Web Werks’ third such data center in the Mumbai region. Mumbai-1 is a carrier hotel, and Mumbai-2 is a standalone greenfield data center with 6MW of capacity. All three are located nearby to one another.
Pakistan’s University of Turbat gets new data center
The University of Turbat (UoT) in Balochistan, Pakistan, has launched a new data center.
The completion of the first phase was inaugurated by Governor Malik Abdul Wali Khan Kakar, as well as phase one of the 1MW solar project at the university. Details surrounding the data center’s capacity have not been shared. DCD has reached out for more information.
At the inauguration, Kakar said that the public sector universities in Balochistan must generate their own resources and become financially self-sufficient, they will struggle to continue in the coming years. He also noted the importance of “creating harmony with modern science and technology.”
Kakar further said that additional measures would be taken to “improve the quality of education in higher education institutions and promote research activities.”
NTT and Prestige group join hands to build a data center in Bengaluru at Rs 700crore
NTT, a global technology services company, has recently partnered with Prestige Group, a real estate developer in India, to collaborate on developing a data center in Bengaluru, India. This strategic alliance addresses the growing demand for robust data infrastructure and cloud services in the region.
The Partnership between NTT and Prestige Group will result in construction a 100MW data center with million sq feet of gross leasable area (GLA) of buildings, marking Prestige Group’s foray into the Indian data center business. The transaction’s total value, including land and infrastructure development, is Rs 700 crore.
The project is expected to be completed in three phases with the first phase likely to be completed within 12 months.
atNorth launches sixth Nordic data centre
atNorth confirms that its third Iceland data centre, ICE03, is now fully operational with an initial capacity of 10MW, following its 11-month build.
This latest launch brings their total number of operational data centres up to six, with one additional site, FIN02, in Finland currently under construction.
“We are delighted to be expanding our presence in the Nordics once again with a third site in Iceland” said Eyjólfur Magnús Kristinsson, CEO, atNorth.
“With six operational sites across three Nordic countries and another in development, our commitment to meet increasing demand in the industry through continued expansion is evidenced. Furthermore, our dedication to sustainable best practice supports our goal to become the service provider of choice for eco-friendly high-performance infrastructure.”
Shell & core construction complete for Digital Realty’s latest Frankfurt data center
External building work on a new Digital Realty data center in Frankfurt, Germany, has been completed.
Construction firm Mercury last week announced it had completed the shell and core construction work for Digital’s FRA33 facility in Hattersheim.
Sat within Digital’s new campus on Kastengrund (known as Digital Park Hattersheim), the new facility will offer 40MW of IT capacity across 16,000 square meters (172,222 sq ft) of white space.
The first 10MW phase is set to go live by Q3 2023, with full build-out scheduled for Q4 2026.
“The topping-out ceremony for the first construction phase of our new data center FRA33 is an important milestone – not only for Digital Realty, but also for the business location Rhein-Main because we are creating space for sustainable digitization,” said Volker Ludwig, SVP and MD DACH at Digital Realty.