Equinix to Expand Data Center Footprint in Osaka

Equinix OS3 International Business Exchange (IBX) in Osaka, Japan. Image courtesy of Equinix

Equinix is planning to more than double its colocation space in Osaka, Japan with its third data center project.

The digital infrastructure company has committed an initial $55 million investment into building another International Business Exchange data center as part of its existing campus in Osaka. Dubbed OS3, the data center is expected to begin construction by the end of the year and is scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of 2021.

OS3 will be built to provide direct, low-latency connections to the Kansai region, which includes major cities such as Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe. The data center will offer Equinix customers a wide range of connection solutions that allow businesses to connect between its own digital infrastructure or with other major cloud providers, like Amazon Web Services or Google Cloud.

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The first phase of the data center project will provide 900 cabinets and more than 33,000 square feet of colocation space. Once fully built out, OS3 will house 2,500 cabinets and 89,340 square feet of colocation space, more than doubling the capacity of Equinix’s data center campus in Osaka. The campus currently serves more than 130 companies through its 64,500 square feet of colocation space split between two IBX data centers.

Jeremy Deutsch, president of Equinix Asia-Pacific, said in prepared remarks that the expansion of the Osaka campus is another step forward for the company’s plans to deliver more Equinix services to businesses in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region.

Digital Growth in Osaka

The demand for secure, high-performance and low-latency connectivity has been on the rise in the Kansai area, with Osaka emerging as a significant market, according to Kuniko Ogawa, managing director for Equinix Japan. The city, which is home to the second-highest concentration of businesses in Japan, is on track to become a hub for startup companies as well as a prime location for data centers.

To capitalize on the growing demand, Equinix also formed a joint venture with GIC in April to develop and operate data centers in Tokyo and Osaka. Currently, Equinix has 13 IBX data centers across Tokyo and Osaka, including its largest data center in Tokyo that opened in July 2019.