Credit: SpaceDC
SpaceDC has unveiled plans to build the self-proclaimed “largest” hyperscaler data centre in the Philippines, aiming to capitalise on a “dramatically underserved” market.
In partnership with JLL -- a global real estate services firm -- work is underway to build a “secure, resilient, network rich” data centre under the banner of MNL1, which will be situated at Cainta in Greater Manila. Fully powered with renewable energy -- specifically wind and geothermal -- the green facility is expected to open at some point in 2022, although no specific date has yet been shared.
“The Philippines ranks second in terms of data centre growth in Southeast Asia,” said Darren Hawkins, CEO of SpaceDC. “With only 47MW of available capacity in the country it is a dramatically underserved market. We are excited to be a first mover in a new market where we see our customers are investing heavily in.”
At 43,000m2, MNL1 will deliver 72MW of critical power while also embracing energy efficiency and design functionalities to minimise the facility’s carbon footprint.
Housing 12x four-story data hall buildings, the data centre will also feature SpaceDC’s N+1 design, which accommodates racks of up to 15kW across 48 x 1,500kW data halls before additional cooling support is required.
According to Hawkins, key benefits include switch and ramps to cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft and Alibaba Cloud, alongside direct cloud access and connectivity to more than 400 data centre.
Credit: SpaceDC Heightened competition
The announcement follows news that Digital Edge struck a joint venture deal that will see the Singapore-based business construct and operate a 10MW data centre in Manila.
The agreement is with the Threadborne Group family office -- an entity within the country’s Rufino family’s business holdings -- focused on technology and real estate, and claims a capital commitment in excess of US$100 million collectively from both parties.
Already under construction, the Manila data centre is slated to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2022, and is expected to stand as the largest operational carrier neutral data centre in the Philippines upon completion.
It is anticipated that the facility will allow Digital Edge to offer flexible, high-quality colocation and interconnection services to both local and international customers in the Greater Manila region.
The new data centre is based on Digital Edge’s next generation architecture and is to be operated under the Digital Edge brand name. The facility also aims to be the most advanced facility in the market, in terms of energy and water efficiency.
Meanwhile, PLDT also unveiled plans to build the “biggest data centre” in the Philippines, servicing global hyperscalers as the country embraces the potential of cloud.
With the aim of supporting the “growing needs” of technology giants -- namely AWS, Microsoft and Google Cloud -- and cloud service providers expanding in the region, the “telco neutral” facility will be tier-3 certified and tier-4 ready once operations start, despite no specific launch date at this stage.
Built in partnership with ePLDT -- the digital technology division of PLDT -- the data centre will aim to service the “massive power and IT requirements” of hyperscalers while incorporating sustainability into design and operations.
