US-based Equinix launches in South Africa with a $160 million data centre investment
Equinix, a data centre company based in the United States, says it is investing $160 million to build its first data center in South Africa, as part of the firm’s African expansion push, following its acquisition of Nigeria’s MainOne in December 2021 for $320 million.
According to a report by Arizton, South Africa is the top data centre market in Africa and will witness investments of $3.2 million by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 11.15% during 2022–2027.
The new data centre, located in Johannesburg, is expected to be operational by mid-2024, and will provide 690+ cabinets and more than 20,000 gross square feet of colocation space, with two additional phases of development planned, including a premium retail campus that will provide 3,450+ cabinets and more than 100,000 gross square feet of colocation space.
Last month, Equinix announced its market entry into Malaysia with plans to build a new data centre located in Johor with an initial investment of $40 million. In October 2022, the company expanded to Indonesia with an investment of $74 million in a data centre in the heart of Jakarta.
Earlier in March, Equinix launched in Chile and Peru, after the acquisition of four data centres from Empresa Nacional De Telecomunicaciones S.A. ("Entel"), a leading Chilean telecommunications provider, for an enterprise value of $705 million.
The company also has a presence in India where had acquired the India operations of GPX Global Systems for $161 million in August 2020.
