Equinix taps $15b Canadian pension funds to build 1.5GW AI and cloud data centers
Equinix, a leading data center company, has announced a joint venture (JV) with GIC and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) to raise over $15 billion, aimed at expanding its xScale® data center portfolio in the U.S. to support growing AI and cloud demands.
This JV will nearly triple Equinix’s xScale investment.
Giga investments for watt plans
Equinix plans to use the capital to build new xScale facilities on U.S. campuses exceeding 100MW, adding over 1.5 gigawatts of capacity for hyperscale customers. CPP Investments and GIC will each hold a 37.5% stake, with Equinix retaining 25%.
Equinix’s global hyperscale portfolio spans Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Americas with an $8 billion investment across 35 facilities, offering 725MW of capacity. Equinix also boasts nearly 40% of private on-ramps to the top global cloud providers, benefiting over 10,000 companies in its ecosystem.
Adaire Fox-Martin, CEO and President, Equinix said “As the world’s leading companies build out their infrastructure to support key workloads such as artificial intelligence, they require the combination of large-scale data center footprints optimized for AI training and interconnection nodes for the most efficient inferencing. Our xScale and IBX offerings are uniquely positioned to address this business need, enabling companies to realize the powerful potential of AI.”
In his comments, Goh Chin Kiong, Chief Investment Officer, Real Estate at GIC said “We are proud to expand our years-long partnership with Equinix, addressing a massive and growing demand for digital infrastructure, driven by the rapid advancement of technology, including AI. GIC’s capital and scale, paired with Equinix’s operational expertise, has driven meaningful value across our investments together. Through this joint venture, we look forward to providing the funding needed to develop state-of-the-art digital infrastructure across the U.S. alongside our likeminded partner, CPP Investments.”
Max Biagosch, Senior Managing Director, Global Head of Real Assets & Head of Europe for CPP Investments said “CPP Investments has invested in data centers for several years and we have developed strong expertise in this space. This investment will help meet the increasing demand for data centers driven by rapid technological advancements and marks a significant step forward in our broader data center strategy. We are pleased to partner with Equinix and GIC to deliver strong long-term risk-adjusted returns for the CPP Fund.”
Global expansion
As part of its broader global strategy, Equinix is rapidly expanding into key markets like South Africa, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Peru, and Chile. It has plunked almost half a billion dollars in the acquisition and new build of data centers in West and South Africa and plans to spend another $390 million.
Opportunities for Africa
Digital infrastructure companies, like Equinix, are increasingly leveraging long-term capital from pension funds to fuel their global expansion and infrastructure projects. Pension funds, such as CPP Investments, provide a stable and patient capital source, aligning with the long-term growth prospects of data centers and digital infrastructure, while offering pension funds a reliable investment in high-demand sectors driven by the ongoing digital transformation, cloud adoption, and the rise of AI.
Africa stands to benefit from opportunities from long-term focused pension funds to build the necessary digital infrastructure for its growing economy. It is estimated that if only 10 to 15 per cent of pension fund assets is allocated to infrastructure, it could help to close Africa’s infrastructure financing gap.
