Explore Equinix’s New AI-Ready Data Centre in Chennai
Equinix has officially launched its first International Business Exchange (IBX) data centre in Chennai, India.
Known as CN1, the facility is built on a six-acre site in Siruseri, Tamil Nadu and is connected to Equinix’s three IBX sites in Mumbai.
The company says CN1 will play a vital role in supporting India’s rapid AI and cloud adoption, while strengthening the country’s position as a global hub for digital services.
India is emerging as a focal point for AI development and digital research, with Chennai positioned as a key location in this transformation.
Rising demand for high-performance computing and data processing capacity has made investment in infrastructure essential.
The launch of CN1 is designed to help meet these demands while expanding Equinix’s presence in the Indian market.
Manoj Paul, Managing Director for India at Equinix, says: “We are delighted to announce the launch of our high-performance IBX data centre, CN1, in Chennai, marking Equinix's expansion in India and a pivotal step in advancing the nation's digitalisation journey.
“Our success in building the most interconnected ecosystem for cloud, carrier, content and enterprises in Mumbai will now be extended to customers in Tamil Nadu.
“This milestone highlights our commitment to empowering India's position as a global technology hub while ensuring sustainability and innovation remain at the core of our operations.
“With CN1's cutting-edge capabilities, we look forward to enabling businesses in Chennai and across India to build future-ready, scalable digital infrastructure that supports sustainability to expand their business in Tamil Nadu and globally.”
Facility specifications and capacity
The first phase of CN1 represents an initial US$69m investment and provides 800 cabinets of capacity.
Once fully developed, the site will support up to 4,250 cabinets across four storeys.
Like other Equinix facilities, CN1 has been engineered for 99.999% uptime and integrates Equinix Fabric, enabling customers to build hybrid multicloud environments with secure interconnection to partners and providers.
The design of CN1 includes support for liquid cooling systems to handle high-density workloads. This makes the facility suitable for compute-intensive applications such as AI model training, advanced analytics and other emerging technologies.
- CN1 is built on nearly six acres in Siruseri, around 28km from Chennai’s Central Business District and close to planned submarine cable landing sites.
- The first phase of the four-storey facility provides 800 cabinets, with long-term capacity for 4,250.
- The site is designed to support liquid cooling for high-density workloads, making it AI-ready and scalable for future technologies.
- Customers will have access to Equinix Fabric and Fabric Cloud Router, enabling secure, software-defined interconnection with partners and multicloud environments.
- Equinix reached 96% renewable energy coverage across its global portfolio in 2024, which includes its Indian operations.
Strengthening cloud and connectivity in India
Equinix already works with more than 300 companies in India, including network service providers and five internet exchanges.
Its Mumbai campus hosts native on-ramps to Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud.
The addition of CN1 in Chennai gives businesses in Tamil Nadu direct access to this ecosystem with lower latency and greater resilience.
By linking Chennai and Mumbai, Equinix creates a broader platform for enterprises to expand across India while connecting to global markets.
The site’s location also places it near key submarine cable landing points, further strengthening connectivity across Asia and beyond.
Equinix’s global and regional footprint
Globally, Equinix operates more than 270 data centres in 77 markets across 36 countries, serving more than 10,000 customers.
In Asia-Pacific, the company’s portfolio includes more than 60 facilities in countries such as Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore.
This regional network provides the interconnection and digital infrastructure required to support economic growth and increasing AI adoption.
In 2024, Equinix achieved 96% renewable energy coverage across its global operations, including in India, reflecting its ongoing commitment to sustainability.
