Vantage Data Centers has acquired land in the Greater Phoenix area to build a hyperscale data center campus. The announcement is the latest step in an ambitious expansion effort, which has kicked into high gear in recent weeks as Vantage has entered the Montreal data center market with an acquisition, and now will build in Phoenix.
The 50-acre site in Goodyear, Arizona will be home to three data centers. The new campus gives Vantage access to one of the nation’s fastest-growing data center markets, positioning the company to support wholesale data center customers seeking capacity in Phoenix.
“We continue to strategically expand Vantage’s footprint based on customer and market demands,” said Sureel Choksi, president and CEO of Vantage Data Centers. “This newest development in the southwest is an ideal location for our customers due to its tax incentives, low power costs and rich connectivity. Our strong sales pipeline is a testament that customers are attracted to our high-quality data centers with a focus on sustainable development and operational excellence.”
An Emerging Hyperscale Destination
The Phoenix data center market is in the midst of a data center building boom, and is drawing some of the biggest names in hyperscale computing. Phoenix is the sixth-largest market for data center capacity in the U.S., trailing Northern Virginia, Silicon Valley, Dallas, Chicago and New Jersey. Growth trends indicate the Phoenix data center market will join the Top 5 markets this year, with total capacity that moves it past New Jersey.
Vantage joins a large and growing group of data center providers that have deploying new capacity in the Phoenix region. Data center developers have announced plans for more than 700 megawatts of capacity for the area, more than any market in the U.S., save Northern Virginia.
An illustration of the planned Vantage Data Center campus. (Image: Vantage Data Centers)
The Vantage Phoenix campus will total 160 megawatts of critical load and more than 1 million square feet once fully developed. It will be the largest of Vantage’s seven current and planned campuses when complete. Design and entitlements are underway, with construction expected to begin in early 2019. The first building will total 32MW of critical load and is anticipated to be online in early 2020.
North American Expansion Rolls On
Vantage has long had ambitions to grow beyond its roots in Silicon Valley. In early 2017, Digital Bridge Holdings acquired Vantage to serve as a platform for a larger expansion into the wholesale data center industry. Vantage Data Centers launched in 2010 by redeveloping an Intel data center campus in Santa Clara. It also operates a data center campus in Quincy, Washington. It is currently building a $1 billion data center campus in Northern Virginia, where it plans to build more than 1 million square feet of data center space in Ashburn’s “Data Center Alley.”
Last month Vantage announced plans to enter the Quebec market by acquiring 4Degrees Colocation and its two data centers from owner Videotron Ltd. for $200 million ($259 million Canadian). 4Degrees operates data centers in Montreal and Quebec City, which offer 16 MWs of space and will be expanded to bring total capacity in Quebec up to 31 megawatts.
Phoenix represents the company’s sixth data center market, up from two markets 12 months ago. Vantage now has data center construction projects underway in four major markets (Santa Clara, Ashburn, Montreal and Phoenix).
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.
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