Equinix has announced plans to enter the South African market with a US$160 million data centre investment in Johannesburg that augments its current footprint on the African continent in Nigeria, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. The new data centre is expected to open mid-2024.
With its South Africa expansion, Equinix is entering one of the largest and most digitally developed nations on the African continent.
“We entered the African continent earlier this year with the acquisition of MainOne, the leading West African data centre and connectivity solutions provider with presence in Nigeria, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire,” said Eugene Bergen, President, EMEA, Equinix. “This investment will give both South African businesses the opportunity to expand internationally and global businesses to expand into South Africa. Both will be able to accelerate their growth by rapidly scaling their infrastructure, easily adopting hybrid multicloud architectures and interconnecting with business partners through the Platform Equinix ecosystem of more than 10,000 customers.”
Highlights / Key Facts
- Equinix plans to expand into South Africa with a US$160 million data centre investment in Johannesburg, expected to open mid-2024.
- The new 4.0 MW data centre, JN1, will provide 690+ cabinets and more than 20,000 gross square feet of colocation space.
- Two additional phases of development are planned. The fully completed 20.0 MW premium retail campus will provide 3,450+ cabinets and more than 100,000 gross square feet of colocation space.
- In 2022, Equinix announced its acquisition of MainOne, its first step into Africa.
- The current Platform Equinix footprint spans six continents, 32 countries, 70+ markets, and over 245 International Business Exchange (IBX) and xScale data centres, providing digital infrastructure for more than 10,000 of the world’s leading businesses, including more than 50 per cent of Fortune 500 companies.
- Each year, Equinix has continued to expand its overall portfolio as the world’s digital infrastructure company with ongoing strategic growth investments—over US$2.7 billion in capital expenditures in 2021 alone.
Following the acquisition of MainOne in April 2022, Equinix has announced two expansions into ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) following the recently announced plans to expand into Indonesia and Malaysia.
