Equinix has announced its expansion into Chennai with its first international business exchange (IBX) data centre, named CN1. This facility is designed to support the needs of enterprises and hyperscalers, including artificial intelligence (AI) deployments, to help businesses capitalise on the digital opportunities in India.
With an initial investment of $65 million, CN1 spans nearly 6 acres of land in Chennai’s thriving tech landscape in Siruseri and is expected to open in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2024. CN1 will be connected to Equinix’s three existing high-performance data centres in Mumbai, providing robust digital infrastructure and ecosystems to drive innovation and digital transformation in India.
Commenting on announcement, Manoj Paul, managing director (MD), Equinix India, said, “We are witnessing India’s growing prominence as a pivotal data centre hub in South Asia, driven by strong interest from major global players looking to anchor and expand their operations here, along with Indian enterprises expanding their digital infrastructure to support the growth of one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Equinix has the most hyper connected data centre campus in Mumbai with the largest concentration of cloud on-ramps, telecom service providers, over-the-top (OTT) media service providers, internet exchanges, and financial ecosystem. The addition of our Chennai data centre will further extend this ecosystem to customers in Chennai. We are grateful for the support we have received from the industries and IT department, government of Tamil Nadu; State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT); and Guidance Tamil Nadu, which have facilitated our entry into the Chennai market.”
Equinix CN1 will serve as a dynamic hub for startups, enterprises, network, and cloud service providers (CSPs), among others, fostering a vibrant environment for groundbreaking initiatives and transformative endeavours. This pivotal move will not only elevate Chennai’s status on the global stage but also unlock new opportunities for international customers seeking to capitalise on Chennai’s strong tech ecosystem.
Bolstered by proactive government initiatives and a thriving business ecosystem, Chennai showcases vigorous infrastructure development, attracting investment in the digital infrastructure sector. As Equinix’s second metro in India, Chennai presents customers with a dual-city redundancy option, enhancing resilience and ensuring uninterrupted business operations.
The key highlights of the facility include:
Strategic location: Equinix CN1 will be located in the SIPCOT land in the Siruseri area. The location is approximately 28 km away from the bustling central business district, holding a key position near anticipated submarine cable landing sites. This strategic location lays the groundwork for Equinix India’s expansion plans, enabling the extension of Platform Equinix to a key metropolitan area in India.
Facility capacity: Equinix CN1 is a four-story building and will ultimately provide a total site capacity of 4,950 cabinets when fully built. Scheduled to open in Q4 2024, the first phase of CN1 will provide 850 cabinets.
Expansion in Mumbai: Equinix recently opened a new IBX data centre in Mumbai, called MB4, adding 350 cabinets to Equinix’s footprint in Mumbai. The company also announced MB3 in Mumbai, which is scheduled to open in Q4 2024, providing an initial capacity of more than 1,375 cabinets, and more than 5,500 cabinets when fully built out.
Cloud and network ecosystem: Equinix hosts more than 300 companies in Mumbai, including around 200 network service providers and five internet exchanges. It is also the densest cloud ecosystem in India, providing on-ramp to eight CSPs, including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Oracle Cloud.
Sustainability goals: Equinix’s facilities in India, including the upcoming facilities in Chennai and Mumbai, CN1 and MB3, are expected to be 100 per cent covered by renewables. Equinix is on track to achieve climate neutrality by 2030, with a strong focus on incorporating clean and renewable energy coverage throughout its worldwide operations. In 2023, Equinix achieved 96 per cent renewable energy coverage across its global operations.
Globally, Equinix operates 260 data centres across 71 metros in 33 countries, providing digital infrastructure for more than 10,000 of the world’s leading businesses. In Asia-Pacific, Equinix currently has 56 data centres in key metros across Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, and Singapore.
