“This project is another key milestone in our ongoing growth journey and adds breadth and depth to our regional platform which now spans 16 data centres across six Asian markets," said Samuel Lee, chief executive officer at Digital Edge.
"NIIF and AGP bring solid local know-how to our data centre expertise, making a strong combination when it comes to executing the project at speed and to international standards.”
The three have formed a new joint venture that will see the construction of new facilities that will operate under the brand name Digital Edge DC.
The first project is a greenfield 300MW hyperscale facility in Navi Mumbai, home to the country’s biggest data centre hub with easy access to power and fibre connectivity.
“Through this platform, NIIF aims to play a key role in building quality digital infrastructure to support the Government of India’s vision to transform the country into a global data centre and cloud computing hub," added Vinod Giri, managing partner of the NIIF’s infrastructure fund.
"The platform resonates with NIIF’s investment philosophy of developing infrastructure at scale and partnering with large, credible, well-governed companies that want to expand into India."
Construction of the 47-acre site will start in early 2023 and the build will be carried out in multiple phases.
Once completed the new facility will be one of the largest data centres in India and is designed to support hyperscale deployments.
“AGP is excited to be partnering with Digital Edge and NIIF for the build out of this new Indian data centre platform," said Ben Salmon, founding partner of AGP.
"The collaboration of skill sets between the partners positions us well to support the much-needed expansion of India’s critical digital infrastructure and deliver to the high standards of hyperscale customers.”
The news marks Digital Edge’s entry into the India market, growing its platform to six countries across Asia.
The partnership aims to source power for its portfolio of data centres largely from renewable energy sources.
“We believe that this is an opportune time for Digital Edge to enter the market in Navi Mumbai. Critical data centre infrastructure has a long runway for growth in the country as India’s digital economy continues to rapidly expand," said Andrew Thomas, senior managing director at Stonepeak.
"We have been excited to partner with the Digital Edge team since the platform’s inception in 2020 and, in NIIF and AGP, we have found ideal partners to expand into India.”
