US-operator Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX) has opened the doors of its first hyperscale facility in Brazil in an investment worth US$116.4 million.

The facility, named SP5x, is located in the city of Santana do Parnaíba, in São Paulo’s metropolitan region and has in phase one 5MW of IT load.

A further 9.4MW are set to be added in follow up building expansions.

Eduardo Zago de Carvalho, managing director for Equinix Brasil, said: “With Equinix’s first xScale deployment in the Americas, our focus remains with our customers. This facility is designed to meet the differentiated requirements of our hyperscale clients in a highly competitive marketplace.

“Latin America is a strategic region for hyperscale growth and São Paulo is the largest economic and industrial centre in the Southern Hemisphere. SP5x is strategically located within our São Paulo campus, connected to the rich digital and business ecosystems within our four existing Equinix IBX data centres, providing SP5x customers with proximity and access to the world’s best digital business platform.”

The investment is part of Equinix’s joint ventures in the form of limited liability partnerships with GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund.

The two parties’ related digital infrastructure capital investment is set to top $6.9 billion across 32 facilities globally after a new $3.9 billion round was announced last June.

The SP5x data centre is Equinix’s seventh asset in Brazil and the 11^th in the Latin America region where the company also has a footprint in Mexico and Colombia.

To date, Equinix has invested $1.2 billion in its Latin America footprint through the acquisition and construction of facilities.

SP5x is the company’s first xScale data centre in the region, however, the company is currently building a second xScale data centre in Mexico City.

Elsewhere, the company has also announced that it has expanded its neutral ecosystem of technologies and partner solutions that support the deployment, management and operations of Kubernetes on Equinix Metal.

Kubernetes helps organisations operate and scale their applications across any infrastructure. By expanding support for Kubernetes solutions from providers on Equinix Metal, Equinix targeting the move of applications to the edge and closer to the clouds, users, networks and partners.

Mark Coleman, Senior Director of Developer Relations at Equinix Metal, said: “While Kubernetes initially matured in the public cloud with developer-first companies, leaders across all industries are increasingly utilising it to accelerate their move toward the edge and operate complex hybrid and multicloud infrastructures. Offering first-class support for Kubernetes on Equinix Metal through a wide variety of partners helps our global customers move faster while maintaining flexibility.”

Equinix is set to announced its third-quarter results on Wednesday, November 3.