Equinix and GIC to expand xScale data centre programme
Equinix has today announced it is to add a US3.9nb expansion to the xScale data centre programme following agreements for additional facilities in partnership with Singapore’s wealth fund, GIC. Once completed, it is expected that the xScale portfolio will bring US$6.9bn across 32 facilities.
According to Equinix, the xScale data centres serve the unique core workload deployment needs of hyperscale companies, in cloud service providers. The Xscale portfolio plans to provide more than 600 megawatts of power capacity once constructed.
Talking about the programme and its partners, Charles Meyers, CEO of Equinix: “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 data centres to directly connect to their strategic business partners and customers. With our xScale program, these hyperscalers can continue to grow at Equinix while in close proximity to an ecosystem of 10,000 customers”.
“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 data centre and digital infrastructure business and maintain our strategic and financial flexibility”.
The global outreach of the Xscale data centre programme
The 32 facilities part of the xScale data centre programme will be spread across three regions. These are:
- Europe: Dublin (three xScale data centres), Frankfurt (five xScale data centres), Helsinki (one xScale data centre), London (two xScale data centres), Madrid (two xScale data centres), Milan (one xScale data centre), Paris (four xScale data centres) and Warsaw (one xScale data centre)
- Asia-Pacific: Osaka (three xScale data centres) and Tokyo (three xScale data centres)
- Americas: Mexico City (one xScale data centre) and São Paulo (three xScale data centres)
- Three additional sites are expected to be announced at a future date
Talking about how Equinix plans to progress its hybrid and multi-cloud adoption, Jabez Tan, Head of Research, Structure Research, said: “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”.
The xScale data centre programme is expected to be completed in several stages throughout 2021. Under the agreement, GIC will own an 80% equity stake in the venture, while Equinix will own the remaining 20%.
