Digital Realty has acquired a land parcel in Seoul, South Korea expected to support the development of up to 64 megawatts of critical IT capacity. The parcel is located at Gurae-dong, Gimpo City in northwest Seoul, approximately 23 kilometers from Digital Seoul 1 (ICN10), Digital Realty’s first facility in South Korea, which is currently under construction and scheduled for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2021.
The new, multi-story facility, Digital Seoul 2 (ICN11), is expected to encompass 970,000 square feet and to be fully operational and offer more opportunities for domestic and international companies to expand their digital capabilities across South Korea by the first half of 2023. The carrier-neutral campus will form a key building block in the development of the industry’s largest open fabric of fabrics, providing access to the rich connected data community on PlatformDIGITAL® with over 4,000 participants in 47 metros across 24 countries.
The new development is part of a broader vision to build a new era of open, secure and dynamically connected data communities in major hubs around the world to unlock opportunities and trapped value in digital business, as outlined earlier this year in Digital Realty’s industry manifesto for open interconnection. The collaborative approach with the industry aims to remove legacy barriers to digital transformation by more closely aligning with the hybrid IT and security considerations of multinational enterprises.
“South Korea is one of the world’s largest economies and represents a significant opportunity to extend coverage, capacity and connectivity options for the world’s leading enterprise customers and service providers,” said Digital Realty Chief Executive Officer A. William Stein. “Our continued investment in the country supports the delivery of carrier-neutral solutions to enable the digital transformation strategies of local and global customers in the region.”
Digital Realty’s Data Gravity Index DGx™ projects that Forbes global 2000 enterprises will be adding storage at a combined rate of more than 620 terabytes per second for data aggregation and exchange across 53 metros by 2024, with Asia Pacific expected to generate the fastest growth across all regions. Seoul, in particular, is expected to realize significant growth in the volume of enterprise data exchange, led by its banking and financial services sector.
“South Korea is one of the fastest growing data center markets in the region, driven by leading global service providers as well as local over-the-top and gaming companies,” said Mark Smith, Managing Director APAC for Digital Realty. “South Korea is a leading player on the global digital stage, and we expect the country’s new ‘Digital Deal’ investments in 5G, big data and artificial intelligence to drive greater demand for highly connected centers of data exchange.”
“The launch of ICN11 is an integral part of our go-to-market strategy in South Korea and is expected to go a long way towards meeting the rapidly growing demand and bringing value for customers across the region,” said Jay Weon Khym, Digital Realty Country Manager for Korea. “Current and future customers on our carrier-neutral campus in one of the world’s most innovative economies will have access to greater coverage, capacity, and connectivity capabilities to unlock the true potential of digital transformation.”
