Tokyo data centers set for significant growth

Despite current economic uncertainties, Japan’s data center market looks set for significant growth over the next few years, given the tangible changes that were already under way before the COVID-19 outbreak, reported Savills.

Japan’s data center market has traditionally been very insular, dominated by domestic systems integrators and IT companies such as Fujitsu, Hitachi, Mitsubishi Electric and NEC. Recently, driven by the expansion of global cloud services into the country, major international data center firms have been making forays into the sector and the momentum has accelerated during the pandemic.

Greater Tokyo is Japan’s top data center market, and Inzai City, Chiba, has emerged as a hub for large-scale data centers servicing the region. Colt DCS, for instance, has a campus with two facilities in the area and is planning to complete a third — its largest facility in Japan — by the end of 2020. Equinix, having leased most of its properties to date