Equinix To Invest $160 Million In South Africa Data Centre

In order to hasten the company’s expansion into Africa, US data center operator Equinix has confirmed intentions to invest $160 million in the building of its first data center there. It anticipates providing services to the nation’s big businesses, including banks, content and media giants, and hyper-scalers.

The data center will be constructed near Johannesburg and be operational by the middle of 2024, according to Bloomberg.

South Africa was a big target for Equinix as it is the most developed economy in sub-Saharan Africa…we are focusing on getting into Africa, and we are looking at another five or six countries to enter.

Equinix EMEA president, Eugene Bergen. (2022)

Equinix recently announced the $320 million acquisition of West African data center firm MainOne. The company cited Africa’s young population and increased internet access as reasons for its rapid expansion into the continent.

Equinix intends to  “take various steps to ensure a stable supply, including building its own power capacity, installing multiple back-up generators and making deals with local grids.” to address South Africa’s pressing power challenges.

Vantage Data Centers, which is backed by DigitalBridge Group, is also expanding its data center footprint, announcing the opening of a second data center facility in Johannesburg this week.

The JNB2 campus is in Ekurhuleni, the trade and industry hub of the greater Johannesburg Metropolis, about 17 kilometers from Vantage’s first JNB1 campus, which will open in July 2022.

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It is also near OR Tambo International Airport and less than two kilometres from the NAPAfrica-neutral Internet eXchange, in a region that serves as the cloud on-ramp for several large technology firms.

“South Africa continues to be a cornerstone for Vantage’s EMEA growth outside of continental Europe…Investing in a second campus is a testament to our commitment to the region and our customers who have business requirements to be in this high-demand market,” said Antoine Boniface, the EMEA president of Vantage Data Centers.

Recent data indicates that the continent’s rising internet usage will propel the market for data centers in Africa to approach US$3 billion by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of more than 12%.