Vantage Data Centers is continuing its global expansion by adding capacity in the two largest U.S. markets. The company said today that it is building new data centers on its campuses in Ashburn, Virginia and Santa Clara, California. Both markets are seeing strong customer demand, with data center developers working steadily to provide inventory to keep pace.
“Vantage continues to experience a heightened global demand for hyperscale data center services,” said Sureel Choksi, president and CEO of Vantage Data Centers. “Because our customers want to grow with us across multiple markets, we continue to develop sustainable, state-of-the-art facilities across our portfolio, including in the world’s top data center markets.”
The announcements build on a series of expansions by Vantage in 2020, including a $2 billion program to build data centers in Europe, the acquisition of a huge hyperscale campus near Cardiff, Wales, and a $1.2 billion investment from a group of investors led by Colony Capital.
Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia is the world’s largest and busiest data center market, and the COVID-19 pandemic is driving demand to new levels. Developers are racing to build new IT capacity in Northern Virginia to meet extraordinary demand for cloud computing resources due to the rapid societal shift to online services.
That’s why Vantage has started construction on the next facility on its Ashburn, Virginia campus to meet a growing number of customer requirements. VA12 is the second of five planned facilities on the 42-acre campus, which will include more than 1 million square feet and 146 megawatts (MW) of IT capacity once fully developed. VA12 will add 36 MW of power capacity and more than 250,000 square feet, with the first phase scheduled to be operational in early 2021.
The Vantage Ashburn campus features a new design using air-cooled chillers, which dramatically reduce the data centers’ use of water – while also helping Vantage deliver efficiency as measured via PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) and WUE (Water Usage Effectiveness). The VA11 facility includes a focus on sustainability, with outdoor lighting powered by on-board solar panels and wind turbines, along with a solar array on the front lawn, and charging stations for electric vehicles.
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is one of the largest and most important data center markets in the U.S., and facing a shortage of finished data center space due to a dwindling supply of development sites in key data center corridors. This places a premium on new projects in Santa Clara, the region’s primary data center hub, due to its lower cost of electric power. That’s why new inventory has been quickly gobbled up by tenants, who often have pre-leased space.
Vantage has been a key beneficiary of this trend. The company has begun construction of the CA23 data center on its second Santa Clara campus, which will include a total of three facilities and 77MW of IT capacity upon completion. This new building will offer more than 200,000 square feet, providing customers with 32MW of IT capacity. It is slated for completion in the second half of 2021.
CA23 is located on a nine-acre site less than two miles from Vantage’s flagship campus, the largest LEED certified campus in North America with a total of 77MW and six facilities. Combined, Vantage’s two Santa Clara campuses will provide customers with a total of nine facilities and 154 MW of capacity in the heart of Silicon Valley.
Data Center Frontier is edited by Rich Miller, the data center industry’s most experienced journalist. For more than 20 years, Rich has profiled the key role played by data centers in the Internet revolution.