Data Center Investment News — 26/05/2023
Manulife IM buys controlling interest in data centre operator Serverfarm
Manulife Investment Management (Manulife IM), on behalf of Manulife Infrastructure Fund II and its affiliates, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a controlling interest in Serverfarm, a data centre owner and operator.
The investment by Manulife IM, together with support from existing shareholders, will provide capital to Serverfarm to continue its expansion across North America, Europe, and Israel to capitalise on market opportunities.
Serverfarm currently operates a portfolio of eight data centers across North America, Europe, and Israel that aggregate more than 1.5 million gross square feet and 125MW of IT capacity, and it has secured additional land for future data centre developments.
“Avner and the Serverfarm team have built a high-quality data center portfolio and growth platform that is well-positioned to capitalize on the strong secular tailwinds in the data center market,” said Recep Kendircioglu, global head of infrastructure, Manulife Investment Management.
Spencer Mullee appointed CEO of Evoque
US data center firm Evoque has appointed Spencer Mullee as CEO, effective immediately.
Mullee was previously founder and CEO at Australian operator DCI Data Centers, having left the company in September 2019 in the wake of its acquisition by Brookfield. He joins Evoque from Florida-based real estate investor and developer Via Lago Investments, where he was president and CEO.
He replaces Andy Stewart, who had led Evoque since June 2020 after stints at TierPoint, Charter Communications, and several investment firms. Stewart replaced Tim Caulfield who stepped down 18 months after the company was formed by Brookfield.
“Alongside a tenured team of data center professionals, I look forward to helping our current and future enterprise colocation customers thrive in Evoque’s best-in-class data centers,” said Mullee. “From the leadership team to the seasoned professionals that keep the data centers running 24/7/365, Evoque is poised to continue doing great work to accelerate growth for investors and customers alike.”
QTS breaks ground on data center in Phoenix, Arizona
“On March 21 of this year, we hosted a successful groundbreaking event for what we call PHX2 DC5, marking the start of construction,” the company said this week. “What started as just one data center has expanded quickly into a QTS Phoenix campus made up of what will be five data centers.”
QTS currently operates a data center at 1200 40th Street, in Phoenix. The 337,330 sq ft (31,339 sqm), 42MW facility is the first in a planned 280MW+ multi-building campus set on 85 acres.
The company operates a second campus at 120 East Van Buren Street in downtown Phoenix. The 288,000 sq ft (26,750 sqm) facility offers 32MW of capacity.
QTS is seemingly gearing up to develop another data center in San Antonio, Texas.
First reported by BizJournal, QTS San Antonio III, LLC. requested for approval to subdivide a 48acre tract of land to establish Omicron Subdivision, located southwest of the intersection of Highway 211 and Potranco Road in Bexar County.
BJ suggests the company is seeking to develop a data center on the site, but hasn’t filed for planning permission yet.
San Antonio staff recommended approval at the May 10 San Antonio Planning Commission meeting.
CDC acquires land for second Sydney campus in Australia
RealEstateSource reports that Australian real estate investment fund Roberts Jones Funds and Development this week acquired the land at the Burra Park in Badgerys Creek, west Sydney, for AU$150 million (US$99m).
Robert Jones notes the company aims to build a data center at the site, its second campus in west Sydney.
“Roberts Jones has taken the opportunity to capitalize on the strong, ongoing market demand for high-quality land assets in and around the Aerotropolis and divest a portion of our Burra Park site,” director Jonathan Pan, said. “We believe CDC’s core business aligns with our plans for Burra Park, as a world-class high-tech enterprise, logistics, and mixed-use employment precinct in the heart of the Aerotropolis.”
CBRE Capital Markets Industrial & Logistics, Jason Edge & Cameron Grier are the agents.
CDC currently operates a 123MW, four-building campus nearby at Eastern Creek. Construction of the Eastern Creek Campus began in 2018. EC1 offers 7MW, EC2 offers 20MW, EC3 offers 43MW, and EC4 offers 54MW. The campus will eventually grow to six buildings and 213MW.
STT GDC building 124MW data center campus in Manila, the Philippines
A consortium including ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC) is developing a new data center campus in the Philippines.
ST Telemedia Global Data Centres Philippines (STT GDC Philippines), a joint venture between Globe, Ayala Corporation, and Singapore’s STT GDC, today announced plans to develop a campus in Quezon City in Manila.
The STT Fairview campus will comprise over 83,000 square meters (893,400 sq ft) of gross floor area across four buildings, offering 124MW of IT load capacity once fully built out. Ground has been broken on the first building, Fairview 1.
Hollow core concrete slabs, recycled steel, and HDPE3 piping will be used to reduce the site’s carbon footprint. The buildings will have the ability to house liquid-cooled solutions and servers based on customer requirements.
“This is an opportune moment to support the Philippines’ digital growth agenda with core data center infrastructure that is the linchpin of a digital society,” said Lionel Yeo, CEO Southeast Asia, STT GDC. “With its complex design and scale requirements, this new data center will offer market-leading efficiencies without the reliability trade-offs, bringing a new standard in data center capacity to the Philippines that will serve the country’s digital and sustainability ambitions with its future-ready features.
CBRE predicts 480MW of take-up across FLAPD markets in 2023
CBRE is predicting a record take-up in the Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Dublin (FLAPD) data center markets this year.
The global real estate advisor suggests that there could be 480MW of take-up across FLAPD, more than half of which is expected in Frankfurt and London. Most of this, according to CBRE, will be driven by hyperscalers.
Kevin Restivo, director of European data centers research, said: “We expect momentum to gather over the year in the FLAPD markets as operators deliver facilities to meet growing levels of demand. As a result, we are on track for unprecedented levels of new supply this year, much of which we expect to be pre-let to single tenants, notably in the tech sector.”
With this demand, it follows suit that there is an expected 524MW of capacity to be developed this year, with multiple projects due for completion in Paris, London, and Frankfurt, including Maincubes’ second data center in the German city.
Africa Data Centres acquires land in Accra, Ghana, set to begin construction soon
The company this week announced that it will shortly start construction on its newly acquired land in the Central Business District of the capital city.
The facility has been designed for an initial 10MW, which can expand to 30MW, and is partially funded by the United States government’s International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).
Located in the Ghana Trade Fair Redevelopment Project at La in La Dade Kotopon Municipal District, the first phase is scheduled to be completed within 12 months.
“Our new data center in Ghana is a significant step towards Africa Data Centres’ goal of narrowing the digital divide in the West Africa region,” said Tesh Durvasula, CEO of Africa Data Centres. “Hyperscale data centers, preferred by major US tech companies, multinational corporations, banks, and other local enterprises, are the specialty of Africa Data Centres. Additionally, our data centers are supported with independent solar and battery storage power, enabling us to bring digital technologies whilst mitigating our environmental impact.”
Pennsylvania high school technical center to get $2.6m overhaul, will include district data center
Pennsylvania’s State College Area High School’s Career and Technical Center (CTC) space is getting a $2.6 million renovation that will see the district’s data center relocate to the campus.
The school board approved the renovation on May 15. Once completed, the CTC will be used for virtual learning, Reclaiming Individual Talent (RIT) programs, and housing the district’s information technology department.
Construction for the project is predicted to take around nine months. The budget can be further split down to ~$1.4 million for construction, $190,000 for plumbing, $642,400 for mechanical works, and $402,940 for the electrical aspects, though this reportedly does not include fixtures, furniture, and equipment (including the data center equipment). The overall budget is not expected to exceed $3 million.
Funding for the project has been provided by previous bond financing.
CyrusOne and KEPCO Join Forces to Build Data Centers in Japan
CyrusOne has collaborated with Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCO) to develop data centers in Japan with the ambitious goal of reaching a business scale of 900 MW.
CyrusOne KEP joint venture will focus on developing new data centers specifically tailored to meet the demands of hyperscale platform companies. By aligning data center infrastructure with the broader power grid, the collaboration seeks to enhance resilience, efficiency, and smart development in the industry.
Moreover, under this agreement, the companies have established a joint venture with equal investments, leveraging their respective strengths to undertake hyperscale data center development and operations in Japan.
CyrusOne KEP plans to make substantial investments totaling at least one trillion yen (equivalent to over $7 billion USD) over the next decade.
Princeton Digital Group plans 150MW data center campus in Johor, Malaysia
The company this week announced it has acquired 31 acres of land from JLand Group (JLG) to develop a 150MW campus in Sedenak Tech Park (SteP).
The first 60MW phase, known as JH1, is set to be ready for operations by Q2 2024, and will see around $450 million invested into the project.
The project is PDG’s first in Malaysia. The company has projects in Singapore, China, Indonesia, India, and Japan. The company announced plans to expand into Malaysia and Indonesia earlier this year.
“Our entry into Malaysia adds to PDG’s growing footprint in Asia, further strengthening our presence as the Pan-Asia digital infrastructure leader,” said Rangu Salgame, chairman & CEO of Princeton Digital Group.
Russian eCommerce firm Wildberries launches on-premise data center in Moscow
According to Cnews, the company has launched a 3.5MW, 16,000 sqm (172,220 sq ft) facility at its logistics hub in the Russian capital.
The facility uses direct free-cooling technology – reportedly a rarity in the country – and powers the company’s own operations using OCP-standard designs. The project saw an investment of 1.2 billion rubles ($15m).
While this is the company’s first enterprise data center, Wildberries also operates out of several other colocation facilities. However, the eCommerce firm is seeking to bring its infrastructure in-house.
“In the future, we plan to completely transfer the IT infrastructure to our own data centers,” representatives of the marketplace told Cnews. The use of OCP standards will help the company avoid vendor lock-in, it told the publication.
ByteDC launches Cambodia data center
An inauguration ceremony was held on May 11 for the Phnom Penh, Cambodia, data center.
The data center has up to 3MW of IT capacity and targets a PUE of 1.8 or below across its total built-up floor space of 81,040 sq ft. The data center has been awarded Tier III Uptime Design Certification. According to ByteDC, it is the first in the nation to achieve that status.
The inauguration was presided over by the Cambodian lieutenant general and son of current Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Dr. Hun Manet. Hun highlighted the importance of data solutions in the current “rapidly evolving technological landscape.”
This was reiterated by Bob Lim, managing director of ByteDC Solutions, who added that big data, cloud computing, and internet connectivity have brought ‘significant changes’ across various industries.
Aligned Data Centers closes acquisition of Odata
Aligned Data Centers has completed the acquisition of LATAM data center provider Odata.
Majority owned by funds managed by Macquarie Asset Management, Aligned said the transaction positions the company among the largest private data center operators in the Americas, with a footprint spanning more than 2.5GW of critical capacity across over 40 data centers at full build-out.
Odata will operate as ‘Odata, an Aligned Data Centers Company,’ and continue to be led by CEO Ricardo Alário.
“Driven largely by the needs of hyperscale companies, cloud service providers, and government customers, the demand for energy-efficient and scalable infrastructure continues its upward trajectory across Latin America,” said Andrew Schaap, CEO of Aligned Data Centers. “Joining forces with an incumbent data center provider whose focus on strategic scale, thoughtful innovation, and sustainable design could not be better timed. “
Amazon to demolish nine office buildings in Sterling, Virginia, and build four data centers
Amazon is to demolish a number of office buildings acquired in Sterling, Virginia, last year and replace them with four data centers.
First reported by BizJournal, Amazon Data Services has filed plans with Loudoun County to demolish and replace nine office buildings across three sites in Sterling with four data centers spanning more than 900,000 square feet (83,600 sqm) between them.
A trio of site plans would see Amazon knock down the three Loudoun Commerce Center buildings at 45965, 45969, and 45975 Nokes Blvd.; the three buildings at 46000, 46010, and 46020 Manekin Plaza; and the three buildings at 21660, 21670, and 21680 Ridgetop Circle.
The 170,000 sq ft (15,800 sqm) Nokes sites would be replaced with a single two-story data center totaling 311,670 sq ft (28,950 sqm).
The 222,000 sq ft (20,600 sqm) Manekin Plaza site would see a three-story, 313,000 sq ft (29,075 sqm) facility developed.
The 129,500 sq ft (11,950 sqm) Ridgetop Circle buildings, would be replaced with two data centers: one 254,140 sq ft (23,610 sqm) and a smaller 60,000 sq ft (5,575 sqm) facility.
CoreSite announces new data center in Santa Clara and expansion to Denver facility
CoreSite is adding its ninth data center in Santa Clara, California. The new 240,000-square-foot (22,300 sqm), facility – known as SV9 and located at 2915 Stender Way – will offer 34MW of IT load, including a new on-site utility substation.
Construction is already underway, and the American Tower-owned company said it is on schedule for the completion of SV9 in 2024, with its first phase ready for occupancy in Q1 2024.
“With expansions in both our Silicon Valley and Denver markets, CoreSite is delivering on our long-term strategy to meet the ever-increasing data center capacity demands and interconnection requirements of our valued customers,” said Juan Font, president and CEO, CoreSite and SVP of US Tower. “Our strong financial backing by Fortune 375 wireless infrastructure leader, American Tower, and private equity partner, Stonepeak, means we have the direct access to capital required to grow with our customers to anticipate and build solutions for their future needs.”
China’s Guizhou Powers Ahead with Multiple Construction of Data Center Projects
Numerous data center constructions are currently progressing with great momentum in Southwest China’s Guizhou Province, one of the eight hubs where the construction of many data center projects are in full swing.
The project to develop a comprehensive national big data system was initiated by China in February 2022, encompassing the creation of eight national computing hubs and ten national data center clusters.
Guizhou Province, a prominent big data hub in southwest China, has unveiled its ambitious plans to invest 20 billion yuan (approximately 2.9 billion dollars) in various big data-related initiatives throughout 2023.
During a provincial big data conference, Guizhou Province announced its intention to launch over 200 digital economy projects this year.
Scala Data Centers goes live with second largest vertical data centre in LATAM
Scala Data Centres confirms the launch of its 6MW IT SGRUTB05 data centre, the second largest vertical data centre in Latin America.
The facility is located on the Tamboré Campus, in Barueri city (São Paulo state, Brazil) and is a single-tenant facility dedicated to a unnamed hyperscale customer, which has a reserved capacity of 100MW to be distributed in other data centres at the complex. On the same campus is Scala’s SGRUTB04, the largest vertical data centre of the Latin American market.
“As the third operational single-tenant site at the Tamboré Campus, SGRUTB05 reinforces Scala’s successful strategy of not only enabling unprecedented volumes in the Latin American market, accommodating the growth of our customer’s IT infrastructure for decades, but also offering a secure, fast and flexible approach through multiple constructions,” said Marcos Peigo, CEO and Co-founder, of Scala Data Centers.
With a total built area of 6,700 sqm, SGRUTB05 is 35.5 meters high, has five floors, three of which are dedicated to data halls, which together have a high density of approximately 400 racks with almost 9MW of total power.
Aligned Data Centers files to extend second Sterling campus in Virginia
The company already has zoning permission and has begun construction of a data center there, but is seeking a ~150,000 sq ft (13,935 sqm) extension.
The company requested to rezone approximately 10.14 acres at Relocation Drive from the Residential-1 (R-1) zoning district to the Planned Development-Office Park (PD-OP) zoning district to develop an approximately 450,000-square foot (41,800 sqm) data center.
The Loudoun County Planning Commission was set to consider the request this week. The site already has permission for a 304,170 sq ft (28,260 sqm) data center and construction work has begun on the facility; the new zoning would allow for an extension of the existing building to be constructed.
Aligned acquired 10 acres from property firm Hughes & Smith Inc. for more than $18.2 million last year, and announced plans for a new data center in July 2022.
Edged Energy breaks ground on data center outside Chicago, Illinois
Edged Energy has begun work on a new data center in the Aurora area of west Chicago, Illinois.
The company this week announced that it and Seefried Industrial Properties, Inc. broke ground on a new data center campus in Aurora. It is Edged’s first project in Illinois.
Edged said the 65-acre, multi-building campus is set to feature 100MW of capacity powered by renewable energy.
The campus will consist of three buildings constructed in three phases, with the first building scheduled for completion in June 2024.
The project will offer waterless cooling technology, on-site solar, EV charge points, ‘alternative’ fuels for its backup generators, and operate at a PUE of 1.15.
Converge ICT Solutions to build 49MW data center in the Philippines
Converge ICT Solutions is working on a 49MW data center in Paranaque City, the Philippines.
Converge’s cofounder and CEO, Dennis Anthony Uy told reporters at the company’s broadband fiber launch in Boracay earlier this month that the company was working on a hyperscaler-dedicated facility that will be completed in the next few years.
Uy did not share the name of the partner on the development but said that it was a multinational player and that details would be announced in June.
The data center will sit on a 1.4-hectare property. Details about the construction plans have not yet been shared.
EdgeCore looks to build data center in Sterling, Virginia
According to a Loudoun County land development application summary, EdgeCore filed a site plan to build a data center in Sterling in February.
The plot is on Horseshoe Drive – reportedly 45925 – which is currently occupied by a number of office developments. 45925 last year saw requests for data center rezoning. The proposed data center specifications aren’t clear at this point.
According to Stewart Investment Partners, 45925 Horseshoe is a 136,000 sq ft two-building office development. The property was purpose-built for the anchor tenant in 2000 to serve as their North American headquarters. The tenant occupied 100 percent of the property until 2015, after which they reduced their footprint at the site. Stewart acquired the site in June of 2021 from a public REIT for $17.25 million.
The site is directly north of a Cyxtera-operated facility and east of a CyrusOne site. It is also adjacent to three buildings at 21660, 21670, and 21680 Ridgetop Circle; all of which AWS aims to demolish and build two data centers in their place.
Blackstone-backed Lumina CloudInfra breaks ground on 60MW data center campus in Navi Mumbai, India
The company today announced it had broken ground on a new hyperscale data center campus in Maharashtra state.
Blackstone announced Lumina CloudInfra as the investment firm’s Asian data center platform last year, with planned developments totaling 600MW in India. Reported to have $25 billion at its disposal, at the time the company said it had two projects already in the pipeline in Mumbai and Chennai.
Local press now reports that Lumina, owned and managed by Blackstone’s Real Estate and Tactical Opportunities funds, is investing more than $300 million in developing its first campus in Navi Mumbai’s Airoli area.
Spanning 6.3 acres, the Airoli site will have a capacity of over 60MW across two phases. The first phase is reportedly set for a 2025 completion date.
Cologix starts work on 21MW data center in Montreal, Canada
The company this week announced that it has started construction of its latest Scalelogix-brand facility in Quebec.
Located in Technoparc Montréal, the MTL8 facility will span 205,000 square feet (19,045 sqm) and offer 21MW of power. Currently being built by CML Construction with completion expected by mid-2024, MTL8 will use renewable energy power from Hydro-Québec.
“We are thrilled to launch our newest data center in Montréal Technoparc,” said Daniel Laurin, EVP of engineering and client solutions at Cologix. “With its sustainable design, unparalleled connectivity, and strong interconnection capabilities, MTL8 is well-positioned to serve as a critical hub for businesses in the region and beyond. We look forward to supporting our customers’ growth and success with this exciting new facility.”
Stonepeak-owned Cologix has 11 data centers totaling around 1 million sq ft (92,900 sqm) in operation or development around Montreal.