Equinix has secured $3.9bn in additional funding to support the next phase of its global hyperscale datacentre buildout plans, which will see its server farm portfolio grow to 32 facilities over the next two-years.
The colocation giant already operates 220 datacentres around the world, but is in the midst of an on-going growth initiative that will see it build a number of supplementary facilities, known as xScale datacentres, around the world that are built to specifically appeal to the hyperscale cloud giants.
The company’s xScale datacentre buildout plan initially received $1bn in funding from Singapore sovereign wealth fund, GIC, through a joint venture announced in July 2019.
That partnership is now entering into another phase with Equinix securing further funding to build more of these tailor-made hyperscale facilities globally through a series of limited liability partnerships with GIC which are expected to close in “several waves” during 2021.
“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 datacentres to directly connect to their strategic business partners and customers,” said Equinix CEO Charles Meyers.
“The joint venture arrangement of xScale enables these large deployments to be structured in an off-balance sheet model that aims to preserve capital for investment in our traditional retail datacentre and digital infrastructure business and maintain our strategic and financial flexibility.”
Once completed, this work will mean that Equinix has xScale datacentres in operation within Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas, with the company projecting that – on completion – these 32 facilities will contain more than 600 megawatts of compute power.
The bulk of the planned facilities will be based in Europe, with the company confirming that two xScale datacentres will be built in London and three in Dublin, as well as four in Paris and five in Frankfurt.
Jabez Tan, head of research at datacentre market-focused analyst house, Structure Research said Equinix’s xScale strategy should stand the company in good stead, as demand for datacentre capacity from the hyperscale community remains strong around the world.
“By building upon the xScale portfolio, Equinix is well-positioned to further accelerate the adoption of hybrid and multi-cloud as the IT architecture of choice for today’s businesses, while meeting hyperscalers’ needs for operational reliability, global reach and interconnectivity to rich ecosystems that are critical to serving their customers worldwide,” said Tan.
