MC Digital Realty Continues Data Center Expansion In Asia

MC Digital Realty, a joint venture between Digital Realty and Mitsubishi, opened a new 247,000-square-foot data center in Japan.

MC Digital Realty continues to expand its data center footprint in Asia with the opening of a new four-story data center in Osaka, Japan on Tuesday with up to 28 megawatts of total IT capacity.

The new 247,000-square-foot data center, dubbed KIX11, is MC Digital Realty’s second facility in Osaka and fourth in Japan including two in Tokyo. MC Digital Realty is a joint venture between Digital Realty and Mitsubishi formed in 2017.

“KIX11 marks another milestone in the growth of our platform in Japan and an important step towards realizing the enormous potential of our partnership with Mitsubishi,” said Digital Realty CEO William Stein in a statement. “Our Osaka connected campus will provide institutional quality infrastructure solutions at the heart of this thriving economic region for both global and Japanese clients.”

[Related: Large-Scale Data Center Spending Pauses In Q1 2019]

Additionally, MC Digital Realty announced it has closed on the acquisition of five-acres of land in Tokyo with plans to develop a new 36-megawatt data center by 2021.

San Francisco-based Digital Realty, named on CRN’s 2019 Data Center 50 list, is one of the largest data center operators in the world with more than 210 data centers worldwide. The co-location giant delivers virtual and physical data center connectivity and interconnection as well as hybrid cloud services.

The 50/50 partnership between Digital Realty and Mitsubishi leverages Digital’s expertise in data center design, construction and operations along with Mitsubishi’s skills in Japanese real estate and IT industries, according to the company.

The development of the new second Osaka data center was anchored by a multi-year agreement with a leading global cloud service provider, which MC Digital Realty did not identify. The two Osaka facilities will be connected via dark fiber to bring together critical data center, network, cloud and connectivity providers under a single environment.

"This is an exciting phase in the growth of the Digital Realty platform in Japan," said Mark Smith, Managing Director, Asia Pacific for Digital Realty in a statement. "Osaka is a thriving financial and colocation center, and a gateway for international exchanges.”

Digital Realty has spent billions over past several years on building new data centers as well as acquiring companies to expand its market presence.

Digital Realty purchased Brazil’s leading data center provider Ascenty for $1.8 billion in late 2018 in a move to increase the company’s footprint in Latin America. In addition to its four Japan-based data centers, Digital Realty operates facilities located in Singapore, Hong Kong, Melbourne and Sydney within the Asia Pacific region.

Digital Realty stock is up 2 percent on Tuesday afternoon, trading at $119.22 per share.