Vantage Buys Former Ford Plant for Data Centre Campus
Vantage has acquired a Welsh car engine plant previously owned by Ford, which it intends to turn into a data centre campus. Ford stopped production at the Bridgend site in 2020.
While based in Denver, Colorado, Vantage Data Centers has 16 locations across the world, where it powers, cools, protects and connects technology across hyperscalers, cloud providers and enterprises.
Vantage was first launched by Silver Lake in 2010, as a data centre campus on a former Intel site in Santa Clara, California. Digital Bridge later acquired Vantage in 2017 and has been a key strategy partner ever since. Vantage now has 32 operational or developing hyperscale data centre campuses worldwide, which is why we featured Vantage Data Centres in our ‘Top 10 Largest Data Centres in Europe’.
Vantage Data Centres expands in Europe
Vantage Data Centres has been growing across Europe since securing US$2.67bn in funding in October 2023. The company already has a presence in Wales after it bought Next Generation Data, which runs a campus outside Cardiff and a site in Newport, in 2020. Microsoft Azure is a major tenant at the Newport facility and in 2021, Vantage received planning permission for a new 80MW data centre at the Newport site.
“Vantage has acquired the former Ford engine plant in Bridgend for a future long-term development,” said a Vantage spokesperson. “As a business established in Wales since 2007 Vantage is excited by this expansion opportunity and looks forward to continuing our engagement with the Welsh and local governments creating a positive impact on the local and broader economy and workforce."
Vantage Data Centers is pioneering Ireland's digital Infrastructure
Vantage Data Centers recently announced its arrival in the Irish market, with a €1bn (US$1,072.bn) investment for the development of a multi-phase data centre campus, to create one of the largest data centre markets in the European continent.
As Dublin is becoming one of the biggest data centre markets in the world, this expansion further solidifies Vantage’s role at the forefront of the digital infrastructure revolution.
“Throughout this development, there will be a significant positive economic impact to the community as we employ more than 1,100 individuals during peak construction and create approximately 165 jobs to operate the campus,” said David Howson, President EMEA at Vantage Data Centers. “Vantage is committed to being a good neighbour where we build and operate data centres and we are eager to continue working with community organisations such as Round Tower GAA Club, Newcastle Tidy Towns, St. Francis Football Club, Ballyboden St. Enda’s GAA, St. Ronan’s National School in Deansrath and others.”
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