Equinix, Inc. a digital infrastructure company, has announced an investment of over US$9 million to acquire a parcel of land in Chennai on a long-term leasehold basis as part of its expansion and growth strategy in India.
A half-billion digital users, coupled with hybrid multi-cloud adoption, are driving exponential growth in the demand for digital infrastructure in India. The parcel of land is located in the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd (SIPCOT) IT Park, providing a total space of more than 5.5 acres. It is strategically located in the Siruseri area, which is known as the IT Corridor of Chennai, with large and upcoming IT parks and well-established telecom networks, the company said.
“With the infrastructure status for data centres recently announced by the Indian government, India is well-positioned to grow as one of the most important data centre hubs in South Asia. There is a lot of momentum and interest from large global players to establish and expand their footprint in India. Many of our customers are keen to expand beyond Mumbai, and Chennai is often their next requested destination. Thanks to the Industries Department, Government of Tamil Nadu, SIPCOT and Guidance Tamil Nadu for their support of Equinix’s growth into Chennai. At Equinix we are focused on enabling digital business in the locations our customer’s request,” said Manoj Paul, Managing Director, Equinix India.
Chennai as an emerging DC hub
According to a Nasscom report, over 80 third-party data centres are currently in operation in India, and investments from both local and international players are expected to reach US$4.6 billion per year by 2025. With a strategic location, access to subsea cable landing stations, stable power supply and thriving IT infrastructure, Chennai is steadily emerging as a data centre hub and has made it to the top ten markets to watch in the world, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s 2021 Global Data Centre Market Comparison report.
Chennai has been one of the major cities of interest for investors when it comes to setting up data centres. Due to the presence of big financial firms, a lot of data is generated. Currently, there are more than 15 data centres that are live & functional in Chennai. The estimated demand for data centres in Chennai will increase drastically.
Currently, Chennai has the third-highest data centre capacity in India, after Mumbai (199 MW) and Bangalore (57 MW). Chennai also has high occupancy levels (83 per cent) due to space is taken up by large cloud companies.
According to an analysis done by Nxtra by Airtel and JLL much of the industry growth will centre on Mumbai and Chennai due to their business and infrastructure advantages, strategic location, and cable landing stations that are well-positioned to support and enable the growth of data centres across India.
The joint research further explained that India’s digital journey is accelerating rapidly, and cloud, data centre, and telecom players are adopting various strategies to capture a share of this growing market
