10 Hot Hyperscale Data Center Companies To Watch In 2020
Here are the 10 hyperscale data center companies that are spending billions each year building and equipping large facilities to meet the world’s growing cloud and data demands.
Hyperscale Data Centers Are Taking Over
Hyperscale data centers are becoming the new norm in the IT world, with the number of these large-scale centers tripling since 2013.
The amount of spending on building and equipping hyperscale data centers hit record heights in 2019 as spending in the third quarter alone reached $31 billion. The largest cloud and internet service providers in the world are investing billions each quarter on constructing hyperscale facilities that house tens of thousands of servers and hardware alongside millions of virtual machines.
Data center colocation providers also are cashing in on the hyperscale boom as they seek to build new, custom data centers to meet market demands.
The number of hyperscale data centers now exceeds 500 with more than 150 new facilities on the way, according to Synergy Research Group. Hyperscale operators accounted for 33 percent of all spending on data center hardware and software in the first three quarters of 2019, up from 26 percent in 2017 and an increase from 15 percent in 2015.
As data becomes the driving force in the technology world, here are the 10 hyperscale data center companies that you need to watch in 2020.
Amazon Web Services
Andy Jassy, CEO
AWS is the biggest spender on hyperscale data centers in the world. The public cloud titan was the Capex king in the data center last year, spending a whopping $26 billion in 2019. No other company in the world spent more money on building and equipping hyperscale facilities than AWS, according to Synergy Research Group.
Seattle-based Amazon continues to buy land across the globe, including the world’s hottest data center markets, at a blistering pace with no plans to slow down data center expansion in 2020. New data center projects overseas for AWS are under way including an $800 million project in Argentina and investing $230 million to expand its presence in Brazil.
Apple
Tim Cook, CEO
Apple has consistently ranked in the top five every quarter in terms of Capex spending on hyperscale data centers over the past two years. In late 2018, Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple said it will spend $10 billion on U.S.-based data center construction from 2018 to 2023.
The iPhone giant has massive hyperscale data center campuses throughout America including in Maiden, N.C.; Austin, Texas; Mesa, Ariz.; Waukee, Iowa; Sparks, Nev.; and in several regions in California. The company recently unveiled a $1.9 billion investment to build two data centers in Ireland and Denmark. Apple has committed to powering its data centers entirely with renewable energy via a combination of solar and geothermal energy.
Digital Realty
William Stein, CEO
The $3.2 billion colocation giant is one of the largest hyperscale data center providers in the world with more than 210 facilities in 15 countries. San Francisco-based Digital Realty is investing heavily this year in expanding its market presence abroad by building hyperscale centers in emerging markets.
Digital Realty is nearing the completion of its $8.4 billion acquisition of Netherlands-based InterXion. The merger of the two companies will create a leading hyperscale data center provider in Europe, offering services to approximately 70 percent of the GDP in the region. In March, Digital Realty opened the doors to its new $70 million data center in Clonshaugh, Dublin.
Equinix
Charles Meyers, President, CEO
In 2019, Equinix struck a $1 billion joint venture with GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, to build data centers exclusively for hyperscale operators. The Redwood Shores, Calif.-based colocation provider created xScale data centers, purpose-built for hyperscalers that provides access to Equinix’s suite of interconnection and edge services that tie into companies like AWS, Microsoft and Google’s existing access points, while also increasing connectivity speeds.
Equinix has been acquiring data centers at a rapid pace over the past few years including three centers from Axtel SAB in Mexico for $175 million. In a move to help hyperscale customers deploy digital infrastructure faster, Equinix recently acquired automation startup Packet.
Mark Zuckerberg, Chairman, CEO
The social media giant is one of the largest spenders around building hyperscale data centers to meet the world’s growing data needs. Facebook spent approximately $16 billion on data center Capex in 2019, trailing only AWS, Microsoft and Google in terms of spending, according to Synergy Research Group.
Menlo Park, Calif.-based Facebook is constantly working on multiple hyperscale data center projects at any given time including the recent opening of its $1 billion facility in New Albany, Ohio, last month. Other plans include a massive 3.5-million-square-foot campus in Altoona, Pa., as well as Facebook’s first hyperscale data center in Asia scheduled to be completed in 2022.
Sundar Pichai, CEO
The Mountain View, Calif.-based search giant was the second-highest hyperscale data center spender in 2019, investing nearly $24 billion in Capex on a global basis. With the high demand for Google Cloud Platform, the company recently said it plans to invest over $10 billion in 2020 on U.S.-based data centers and offices. New investments will focus on 11 states including California, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New York, Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington.
“These investments will create thousands of jobs—including roles within Google, construction jobs in data centers and renewable energy facilities,” said Pichai in a February blog post. “This effort builds on the momentum of the $13 billion investment in communities from South Carolina to Nevada we made in 2019.”
Microsoft
Satya Nadella, CEO
Microsoft spent approximately $17 billion on hyperscale data center Capex in 2019 as the company rapidly expands its global footprint to meet demand for Azure public cloud. The Redmond, Wash.-based software behemoth will build its first cloud data center in Mexico as part of a $1.1 billion investment in the country over the next five years.
Microsoft has 58 data center regions and availability in 140 countries. The company recently unveiled plans for a new Azure data center in Spain. Microsoft and Amazon opened the most new hyperscale data centers in the first three quarters of 2019, accounting for over half of the total new data centers being built, according to Synergy Research Group.
Oracle
Safra Catz, CEO
Oracle is undertaking its biggest data center expansion effort in its history with plans to build 20 new data centers worldwide by the end of this year. The Redwood City, Calif.-based software and cloud specialist is launching 17 Oracle Cloud commercial sites and three government centers.
Oracle, which is hiring 2,000 new employees to drive cloud infrastructure support, is building new data centers in California; Chile; Montreal; Melbourne; Amsterdam; Singapore; Israel; South Africa; Belo Horizonte, Brazil; Osaka, Japan; Hyderabad, India; Chuncheon, South Korea; Newport, Wales; as well as two in Saudi Arabia and two in the United Arab Emirates.
Stack Infrastructure
Brian Cox, CEO
Stack Infrastructure is a fast-growing wholesale data center colocation provider with more than $1 billion in capital. The Denver-based company is planning to use its massive wallet to build data centers specifically for hyperscale operators like AWS, Google and Microsoft.
Stack Infrastructure is building a massive 125-acre, 4-million-square-foot campus in the data center capital of the world, northern Virginia. Stack was formed in 2019 by investor IPI Data Center Partners after it combined assets acquired from T5 Data Centers and Infomart Data Centers. The company’s Hyper Stack data centers targeting hyperscale operators are available in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Portland, Virginia and Silicon Valley.
Vantage Data Centers
Sureel Choksi, President, CEO
Vantage Data Centers is placing a $2 billion bet on hyperscale data centers. The Denver-based wholesale data center provider has already secured land with plans to develop multiple hyperscale data center campuses in Berlin, Milan, Warsaw and Zurich.
Last month, Vantage Data Centers acquired European company Etix Everywhere, taking over the company’s data center portfolio that includes a 55-megawatt campus in Germany.
“As data center demand from our customer base continues to rapidly increase worldwide, Vantage is embarking upon its largest expansion ever into Europe through the development of five strategic markets,” said Choksi. “The acquisition of Etix accelerates our expansion to Frankfurt, Europe’s highest- growth hyperscale market.”