Equinix, GIC form JV for European Hyperscale Facilities

The data center giant Equinix made an interesting move this week to better tap into the needs of hyperscalers. They have teamed up with the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC to form a new JV focused on building ‘xScale’ data centers in Europe.

The idea is to build new, focused facilities in close proximity to Equinix’s IBX campuses for the hyperscale community. Such buyers tend to have very specific needs when it comes to design, energy usage, and capabilities, and thus often roll their own when it comes to new data center space. However, they also need to be nearby key internet infrastructure, which is something Equinix has plenty of. These new xScale facilities are a way to get a bigger piece of the hyperscaler capex pie.

GIC will own 80% of the JV, with Equinix owning the rest. GIC’s contribution will be, unsurprisingly, a pile of cash. For its part, Equinix will be contributing something other than cash, putting into the JV the existing facilities LD10 in London and PA8 in Paris as well as the customers within them as the initial facilities. The JV has some €850 million in financing lined up The deal is expected to close later this quarter.

Plans are already underway for additional xScale facilities in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and London which will add 155MW of power capacity to the total. Equinix staff will managing and staffing the facilities, and the company’s interconnection and edge services will be on tap, of course.

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Categories: Datacenter