Equinix and PGIM Real Estate have signed a$575 million joint venture agreement to develop and operate two data centres in Sydney targeting hyperscale customers.

According to Equinix, the facilities -- SY9x and SY10x -- will provide more than 55MW of power capacity. Both facilities will reside in Sydney's western suburb of Rosehill.

Under the agreement, PGIM Real Estate will own an 80% interest, while Equinix will have a hold in the remaining 20%. Pending regulatory approval, the joint venture will be finalised by the end of the year, and the SY9x facility is expected to open at the start of next year.

"As digital transformation accelerates across all industries, hybrid multicloud is becoming the IT architecture of choice for leading businesses," Equinix president and CEO Charles Meyers said.

"These companies recognise that digital infrastructure is a source of competitive advantage, and they are leveraging Platform Equinix to directly connect and operate close to the largest cloud companies powering this infrastructure,"

The new relationship with PGIM Real Estate follows on the partnership Equinix formed with GIC last year to expand its hyperscale facilities in Japan -- one in Osaka and two in Tokyo. The pair also announced in June the expansion of their joint venture with an additional$3.9 billion investment in data centers for hyperscale companies.

To date, Equinix has opened six hyperscale data centres globally. In addition to the TY12x in Tokyo, there's also the PA8x and PA9x in Paris, LD11x and LD13x in London, and SP5x in Sao Paulo. 

Equinix also has 17 data centres in Australia, which will increase to 18 when PE3 in Perth opens later this year.

Meanwhile, the top end of Australia is expected to be home to DCI Data Centre's newest facility, after the company secured 2.7 hectares of land in Darwin to build its cloud edge data centre it's calling DRW01.

Subject to development application approval, DCI said there would be enough space to support up to 10MW of IT load, with the option to expand up to 5 hectares in the future.

"Darwin is a strategic location in Australia and has already created a digital ecosystem with key elements like renewable energy, international and Australia-wide network connectivity," DCI CEO ANZ Malcolm Roe said.

"It is also the command hub in the north for Australian defence and coastal border forces, as well as hosting significant US Defence Force technical and aerial assets. The rapidly growing space sector is also seeing organisations such as NASA and other global players establishing a presence in the Territory. This is all in addition to the existing mining, agriculture, and tourism sectors."

"These industries require secure ICT infrastructure, so it makes perfect sense for us to increase our footprint to include NT, starting with the purchase of this land."

In May, DCI announced it was investing AU$70 million into what it called would be South Australia's "most energy-efficient secure data centre facility". Based in Adelaide's Kidman Park, the facility would increase DCI's existing site capacity by 4MW, taking it up to 5.4MW total IT load by mid-2022.

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