The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region led the growth in data center additions during the first quarter of this year. It saw a new capacity addition of 488 megawatts (MW) in the first quarter, up from 185 MW in the previous quarter, taking the total capacity to over 8,700 MW. According to a report by global property consultants Knight Frank and DC Byte, the growth was mostly driven by Tokyo, Sydney, Mumbai and Seoul.
It added that Sydney has crossed a critical threshold to become a gigawatt market. “Across the region, 203 MW of capacity was absorbed this quarter largely due to public cloud activity, which is significantly higher than the average 127 MW per quarter seen earlier in 2021.”
The data center report said Mumbai saw a 4-MW increase in supply in the first quarter of 2022, taking the total IT capacity in the city to 885 MW. Supply growth in Q1 2022 was primarily driven by Equinix’s announcement of a third facility, called MB3.
“Of the cumulative IT power capacity of 885 MW created since inception in Mumbai, the live IT power accounts for 23 per cent of the total capacity of 207.14 MW. Phased IT power accounts for 53 per cent of the total capacity of 470.30 MW, while the remaining 24 per cent or 207.76 MW is under construction, the report said.
In terms of market structure, co-location constituted a 98 percent majority of IT power capacity at 868 MW. Reminder was formed by self-manufacturing with IT power capacity of 17 MW.
Shishir Baijal, Chairman and Managing Director, Knight Frank India, said, “The Mumbai data center market currently has ample capacity to absorb the potentially massive data requirements that are bound to arise in a market like India. The 700 MW data center capacity is either under construction or yet to be commissioned.
He added that the Data Protection Bill, when finalized, will be a turning point in the growth of the Indian data center market and will further determine the market volume.
Adeline Lew, data center lead for Asia-Pacific at Knight Frank, said: “While a new wave of COVID-19 infections may have hindered data center growth in greater China markets this past quarter, Overall, COVID-19 has indeed been a boon. As for data center demand in Asia-Pacific, as it has driven a tremendous increase in appetite for the cloud due to the shift to hybrid work as well as increased overall Internet penetration.
Because of this trend, we have noted growing interest in established markets in many of the Asia-Pacific, as well as markets in developing Southeast Asia.
Recently, the credit rating agency ICRA said that the capacity expansion of data centers India Investments of Rs 1.05 lakh to Rs 1.2 lakh crore are expected to add up by both foreign and local firms over a period of next five years.
read all breaking news, today’s fresh newswatch top videos And live TV Here.