CtrlS Datacenters Ltd to ramp up its capacity to over 1 gigawatt in 4 yrs

CtrlS Datacenters Ltd, Asia's largest Rated-4 data centre operator, plans to invest over $2 billion in the next three to four years to increase its capacity from 234 megawatts (MW) to over a gigawatt, a top company executive said. 

The ambitious plan includes expansions in Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Chennai, besides setting up data centers in 20 Tier-II and Tier-III cities.

"We are planning to invest over $2 billion in the next three to four years, going from 234 MW now to over a gigawatt of capacity," Royce Thomas, Chief Business Officer, CtrlS Datacenters told Business Standard.

The company recently unveiled its fifth hyperscale data centre campus in Chennai, after openings in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Noida, and Bengaluru. CtrlS Datacenters will invest ~4,000 crore in the Chennai Datacenter Park, across phases.

 

"We have built five data centers in Mumbai and have a runway up to 300 MW. In Hyderabad, we have three data centers and the third one is open for business and customers are moving in now. In Chennai, we have two data centers to be delivered soon," Thomas added. 

The first data center building (Chennai DC 1) is fully booked and will begin operations in the second quarter of this year. The second data center building (Chennai DC 2), slated to be launched in the second half of 2024, is currently accepting bookings. Chennai DC 2 is a 10-floor structure with an IT load of 27 MW.

"We plan on building edge data centers in another 20 locations in Tier-II and Tier-III markets. In India, such markets have a population density of 4-7 million people. Lucknow, Patna, Ahmedabad, and Guwahati are in our roadmap," he said. The company has land holdings in Lucknow, Patna and Ahmedabad.

"In Chennai, we will be investing over ~4,000 crore, during all the phases. It is a significant development. We plan on hiring up to 500 people. We feel like the impact of the entire business will create more than 9,000 associated jobs," Thomas added. 

CtrlS Datacenters Ltd, which began its operations in 2007, operates 15 data centers across eight key markets. It also announced its plans to explore new overseas markets in Southeast Asia and West Asia, with Thailand being the first international market foray. 

"We are on our fifth data centre in our campus in Navi Mumbai, and we have the capability of scaling that campus to over 300 megawatts with 12 data centers in total. We are currently under construction of sixth and seventh," Thomas said.