Extends hyperscale data centre program into Australia.

Digital infrastructure company Equinix, and PGIM Real Estate, the real estate investment and financing arm of Prudential Financial’s global asset management business, today announced an agreement to establish a US$575 million joint venture in the form of a limited liability partnership to develop and operate two xScale data centres in Sydney, Australia.

The facilities in the joint venture, which will be known as SY9x and SY10x, are expected to provide more than 55 megawatts (MW) of power capacity to serve the unique core workload deployment needs of a targeted group of hyperscale companies, including the world’s largest cloud service providers. The first xScale data centre in Sydney – SY9x is expected to open in Q1 2022.

Combined with Equinix’s existing hyperscale joint ventures in Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas, this joint venture will bring the global xScale data centre portfolio to more than $7.5 billion across 34 facilities, and an expected greater than 675 MW of power capacity when completed and fully constructed.

To date, six xScale data centres have been opened in Asia-Pacific, EMEA and LATAM, including TY12x in Tokyo, PA8x and PA9x in Paris, LD11x and LD13x in London, and SP5x in São Paulo, with more currently under development.

Equinix is one of the leading data centre provider in Australia with 17 International Business Exchange™ (IBX^®) data centres, which will increase to 18 when PE3 in Perth opens later this year. Under the terms of the agreement, PGIM Real Estate will own an 80% equity interest in the joint venture, and Equinix will own the remaining 20% equity interest. The joint venture is expected to close in Q4 2021, pending regulatory approval and other closing conditions.

As one of the largest real estate managers in the world, PGIM Real Estate will contribute market insight and support to the joint venture with its deep knowledge of local real estate equity and debt markets applied through its 1,100+ experienced professionals across 31 offices worldwide. Deploying research-led initiatives such as this new program with Equinix, PGIM Real Estate will strive to deliver exceptional performance for both its partners and investors.

Structure Research forecasts that hyperscale colocation market in Sydney and Melbourne, in terms of built-out critical MW capacity, will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22% from 2021 to 2026. With xScale data centres in Australia, hyperscale companies can add core deployments to their existing access-point footprints at Equinix, enabling their growth on a single platform that can immediately span 65 global metros and offer direct interconnection—within robust ecosystems—to their customers and strategic business partners.

Currently, Platform Equinix features more than 40% of the private on-ramps to the top global cloud service providers—more than any other provider. For years, the world’s largest cloud service providers, including Alibaba Cloud, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, have partnered with Equinix to leverage its global platform of more than 230 data centres to directly connect to their strategic business partners and customers. With the xScale program, these hyperscalers can continue to grow at Equinix, in close proximity to an ecosystem of 10,000 customers.

According to an independent Global Tech Trends report released by Equinix in May this year, which surveyed 2,600 IT decision-makers across 26 countries, hybrid and multicloud deployments in Australia were trending up from 28% to 47% year-on-year.[2] The xScale program in Australia will enable enterprises to directly connect and operate in proximity to the largest global cloud operators to build and grow their hybrid multicloud infrastructure.

Equinix is a leader in data centre sustainability and is greening the supply chains of its customers. Equinix is the first data centre operator to commit to reaching climate-neutral by 2030 globally, backed by science-based targets and a sustainability innovation agenda. The company’s long-term goal of using 100% clean and renewable energy for its global platform has resulted in significant increases in renewable energy coverage globally.

Most recently, Equinix, together with HSBC Bank, Nike Australia, Goldman Sachs and Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), also received determination from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for joint renewable energy purchasing in Australia. Equinix has continued to make advancements in the way it designs, builds and operates its data centres with high energy-efficiency standards, and all xScale data centres are expected to be LEED certified (or the equivalent regional certification).

Tags: data centreEquinixPGIM