India has rapidly become a key market for global businesses seeking to scale digital services, including AI, while reducing latency. CN1 is designed to provide enterprises with direct access to the global digital economy and to strengthen India’s data sovereignty capabilities. Manoj Paul, managing director of India at Equinix, said: “We are delighted to announce the launch of our high-performance IBX data centre, CN1, in Chennai, marking Equinix’s expansion in India and a pivotal step in advancing the nation’s digitalisation journey. Our success in building the most interconnected ecosystem for cloud, carrier, content and enterprises in Mumbai will now be extended to customers in Tamil Nadu.”
The first phase of CN1 will provide 800 cabinets of capacity, with plans to expand to 4,250 cabinets in the future. The facility is engineered for 99.999% uptime and supports Equinix interconnection services, including Equinix Fabric, which enables enterprises to leverage hybrid multicloud environments. CN1 also features liquid cooling technology to handle demanding AI workloads.
Equinix has achieved 96% renewable energy coverage across its global operations, including its Indian facilities, as of 2024. This aligns with the company’s sustainability commitments while supporting the deployment of high-performance digital infrastructure.
Chennai has emerged as a strategic location for India’s technology development, particularly in AI and cloud services. By launching CN1, Equinix aims to enhance the city’s role as a central hub for the country’s competitiveness in digital services. Paul added: “This milestone highlights our commitment to empowering India’s position as a global technology hub while ensuring sustainability and innovation remain at the core of our operations. With CN1’s cutting-edge capabilities, we look forward to enabling businesses in Chennai and across India to build future-ready, scalable digital infrastructure that supports sustainability and expansion both locally and globally.”
Equinix currently serves more than 300 companies in India, including network service providers and five internet exchanges. The Mumbai campus hosts a robust cloud ecosystem, and CN1 will allow Chennai-based customers to connect with low-latency access to this digital network, ensuring seamless and secure connectivity with business partners, customers, and service providers.
With CN1, Equinix reinforces its strategy of expanding India’s digital infrastructure while enabling enterprises to adopt AI, hybrid multicloud, and high-performance computing solutions efficiently.
