Equinix has announced the completion of the greater than US$1.0 billion joint venture in the form of a limited liability partnership with GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, to develop and operate new facilities in Europe. The initial six facilities in the joint venture will be located in Amsterdam, London (two sites), Frankfurt (two sites), and Paris markets, on some of Equinix's existing International Business Exchange (IBX) data center campuses.
"The formation of our JV with GIC is a strategic milestone for Equinix as we continue to deepen our relationships with the world's largest cloud and hyperscale companies and help them meet their core workload deployment needs and gain proximity to the thriving business ecosystems available at Equinix," said Charles Meyers, President and CEO, Equinix, in a statement.
The Redwood City, Calif.-based co-location and interconnection giant informed that xScale data centers would serve the unique core workload deployment needs of a targeted group of hyperscale companies, including the world's largest cloud service providers. xScale data centers offer access to Equinix's comprehensive suite of interconnection and edge services. They are engineered to meet the technical and operational requirements and price points of core hyperscale workload deployments.
The facilities will allow these key enablers of digital transformation to streamline their continued growth, while strengthening Equinix's leadership position in the cloud ecosystem. Equinix is planning to have similar initiatives in the future to expand its global footprint. "We look forward to launching similar JVs in other operating regions and believe these efforts will continue to further differentiate Equinix as the trusted center of a cloud-first world," added Charles Meyers.
As part of the deal, the Equinix LD10 IBX facility has been sold to the joint venture. The portion of the facility that has been dedicated to hyperscale deployments has been re-named the LD13x xScale data center. The balance of the facility, which is dedicated to retail colocation deployments, will be leased by Equinix from the JV and will retain the Equinix LD10 IBX name. Also, the former Equinix PA8 IBX in Paris, which has also been sold to the joint venture, has been re-named the PA8x xScale data center.
The FR9x xScale data center in Frankfurt will add 10 MW of capacity in Q3 2020 when the initial phase is opened. At full capacity, the company expects the facility to support 18 MW of capacity. Equinix also informed that the LD11x xScale data center in London would add 10 MW of capacity for hyperscale customers in Q1 2021 when the initial phase is opened. At full capacity, the facility is expected to support 19 MW of capacity.
