Singapore-headquartered data center platform Racks Central has been granted an unspecified sum of investment from the US$1 billion China ASEAN Investment Cooperation Fund II (CAF II)as advised by ESR, a real asset owner and manager. The investment will support Racks Central’s overseas expansion, starting with Johor where it is building an AI factory comprising four large-scale developments with a combined capacity of up to 510MW. The firm currently operates a 12MW colocation data center in Singapore.
The investment will enable Racks Central to develop AI-ready and large scale data centers across Southeast Asia, according to the firm’s press release.
Jeffrey Shen, Co-founder and Co-CEO, ESR, said, “The rapid acceleration of AI adoption and digital transformation is fundamentally reshaping data centre requirements across Asia-Pacific. As sub-advisor to CAF II, and with ESR’s data centre development expertise across a pipeline of over 3 GW, we are pleased to support Racks Central’s transformation to a scalable, regional data centre platform for hyperscale and enterprise customers.”
Bobby Wee, Founder and CEO, Racks Central, said, “We are pleased to welcome ESR and CAF II as strategic partners. Their capital commitment and infrastructure expertise will support our ambition to develop a seamless, AI ready data centre corridor across Southeast Asia, enabling our customers to scale efficiently as regional digital demand continues to grow.”