Equinix, GIC Form Joint Venture to Build 2 Data Centers in South Korea

Equinix Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX) is establishing a $525 million joint venture with GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, to develop and operate two xScale data centers in Seoul, South Korea.

Announced on Thursday, the two parties are forming a limited liability partnership that is expected to be closed by the first quarter of 2022. GIC will hold a majority 80 percent stake in the joint venture, whereas Equinix will have control over the outstanding 20 percent.

Both the new facilities in South Korea, to be named SL2x and SL3x, will be xScale, which is the hyper-scale data center program of Equinix. They will produce more than 45 megawatts (MW) of power capacity together.

Increasing Demand for Data Centers

“More and more organizations are embracing a digital-first strategy to scale their operations, enhance the experiences of their customers, and unlock the value of technologies like 5G, IoT,
 
 artificial intelligence (AI 
) and machine learning (ML). Korea and the broader Asia-Pacific market are both enablers and beneficiaries as organizations prioritize digital transformation,” said Charles Meyers, the President and CEO at Equinix.

With the two new data centers, the company’s xScale
 
 data center 
portfolio will grow to more than $8 billion across 36 facilities, with over 720 MW of power capacity.

Equinix first entered the Korean market in 2019 with the establishment of its International Business Exchange facility, SL1. Furthermore, the company is growing its footprint aggressively on a global scale and entered Africa last month with the acquisition of MainOne for $350 million.

“To address demand for cloud and digital infrastructure, we have continued to invest in the region through the expansion of International Business ExchangeTM (IBX®) capacity and locations, as well as the expansion of our hyperscale program, xScale, in Australia and now Korea.”

Equinix Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX) is establishing a $525 million joint venture with GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, to develop and operate two xScale data centers in Seoul, South Korea.

Announced on Thursday, the two parties are forming a limited liability partnership that is expected to be closed by the first quarter of 2022. GIC will hold a majority 80 percent stake in the joint venture, whereas Equinix will have control over the outstanding 20 percent.

Both the new facilities in South Korea, to be named SL2x and SL3x, will be xScale, which is the hyper-scale data center program of Equinix. They will produce more than 45 megawatts (MW) of power capacity together.

Increasing Demand for Data Centers

“More and more organizations are embracing a digital-first strategy to scale their operations, enhance the experiences of their customers, and unlock the value of technologies like 5G, IoT,
 
 artificial intelligence (AI 
) and machine learning (ML). Korea and the broader Asia-Pacific market are both enablers and beneficiaries as organizations prioritize digital transformation,” said Charles Meyers, the President and CEO at Equinix.

With the two new data centers, the company’s xScale
 
 data center 
portfolio will grow to more than $8 billion across 36 facilities, with over 720 MW of power capacity.

Equinix first entered the Korean market in 2019 with the establishment of its International Business Exchange facility, SL1. Furthermore, the company is growing its footprint aggressively on a global scale and entered Africa last month with the acquisition of MainOne for $350 million.

“To address demand for cloud and digital infrastructure, we have continued to invest in the region through the expansion of International Business ExchangeTM (IBX®) capacity and locations, as well as the expansion of our hyperscale program, xScale, in Australia and now Korea.”

Source: https://www.financemagnates.com/fintech/news/equinix-gic-form-joint-venture-to-build-2-data-centers-in-south-korea/