Equinix expands into India through $161m acquisition of two local datacentres

Colocation giant Equinix is expanding its geographical reach into India with the acquisition of two datacentres in the country in a $161m buyout.

The company has acquired the Indian operations of carrier neutral datacentre provider GPX Global Systems, with the deal formally set to close during the first quarter of 2021, subject to regulatory approval.

The deal is intended to pave the way for Indian enterprises to access services offered by more than 200 cloud and internet service providers, as well as local carriers and content delivery networks, via the newly acquired Equinix facilities located in Mumbai.

The two facilities are being marketed by Equinix as a fibre-connected hub that will aim to increase the total amount of colocation capacity the company can offer by more than 90,000ft². The server farms are understood to house 1,350 cabinets at present, but could accommodate a further 500 once the buildout of the facilities is complete.

The acquired datacentres come equipped with direct connections into the Amazon Web Services (AWS),  Google and Oracle cloud platforms.

Apart from adding colocation capacity to its existing global portfolio of 210 datacentres, the acquisition is a timely move for Equinix in the light of predictions made by market watcher McKinsey that India’s IT and digital communications market will double in size by 2025 to contribute between $355bn and $435bn in GDP.

Equinix said the acquisition will also give its existing customers – both on the enterprise and supplier side – in other parts of the world a means of expanding their operations into India.

On this point, John Dinsdale, chief analyst and research director at IT analyst house Synergy, said the datacentre market in India is poised for huge growth in the coming years, which Equinix is now well positioned to take advantage of.

“The datacentre market in India is expected to exceed $1bn in 2020 and grow at 12% CAGR [compound annual growth rate] from 2019-2024, the third-highest rate in the world,” he said.

“Our forecasts show that the country will become the seventh-largest datacentre market in the world in 2021.”

Charles Meyers, president and CEO of Equinix, said expanding into India has been a long-term strategic objective for his company, given that the country is home to the world’s second-largest internet user base.

“The acquisition of GPX’s business in India means we are able to make a giant leap forward in terms of growing our ecosystem in India, and gives us a solid foundation for rapid growth and expansion in the country,” said Meyers.

“This acquisition follows the recent announcement of our planned expansion in Canada and is a testament to our continued focus on expanding our global reach as companies continue to view interconnection at the digital edge as a business imperative.”

Manoj Paul, managing director of GPX Global Systems, India, added: “The appetite from global companies for expansion into India is matched by local interest in expanding overseas.

“This creates a thriving marketplace and by integrating our datacentres with Platform Equinix, our customers will have access to a global interconnection platform that can accelerate their business and connect them with customers and partners across the world.”