Equinix, Inc. confirmed plans to introduce its new $160 million data center investment in Johannesburg, according to a press release. The new office is expected to open by mid-2024.
"We entered the African continent earlier this year with the acquisition of MainOne, the leading West African data center 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 multi-cloud architectures and interconnecting with business partners through the Platform Equinix ecosystem of more than 10,000 customers."
The addition will expand the global digital infrastructure company’s presence across Nigeria, Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, and in the general South African market.
“At Equinix, we seek to be good stewards of the environment and of the resources we consume. We design, build and operate sustainable data centers planned holistically to reduce our consumption of all resources and maximize efficiency. We were the first company in the data center industry to set a science-based emission reduction target and commit to become climate neutral globally by 2030, aligned to the Paris Accord 1.5-degree scenario,” the press release stated.
Equinix aims to use sustainable and reliable sources of energy for the new establishment, which is said to have special features to save energy and reduce its carbon footprint. The country serves as a convenient location for the company as it is deemed an important hub for digital networks with ample connections to other countries and continents through its long coastline.
The move is the latest of its kind in a series of expanding efforts made on behalf of Equinix, such as the acquisition of MainOne in April 2022, and its expansion into ASEAN. The company has also continued to invest in organic expansion with 46 major builds underway in 31 markets. Recently, the company also expanded to other countries in Southeast Asia and South America. Equinix is also building new data centers in many other places around the world.