Russian data centre operator IXcellerate has announced plans to build what it claims will be Europe’s largest data centre campus.

The southern campus – IXcellerate Moscow South – will unite several data centres starting with Moscow Five (MOS5), supporting the expansion of hypercloud clients. 

The campus power capacity will be more than 200 MW, with a design capacity of approximately 20,000 rack spaces. For comparison, the entire Russian colocation marketplace is thought to count with as many as 50,000 racks today.

The first phase is slated for commissioning in Q3/Q4 2021. IXcellerate also plans to build new data facilities and expand its first campus located in the north of Moscow.

The company did not reveal details relating to the cash injection in expanding its footprint. However, according to local newspaper Kommersant, IXcellerate will be investing US$500 million in its projects.

Guy Willner, chairman of IXcellerate, said: “We are proud to announce the largest expansion step in IXcellerate history – it underlines our commitment to helping the next generation of Russia’s tech entrepreneurs alongside the country’s accelerating public sector digitalization. 

“We believe this next step in our growth will allow both enterprises and federal bodies to further harness technology to help create a greener future. In tandem with sustainability, data sovereignty is a major issue across the planet and our datacentres allow companies to fully comply with privacy and localisation laws whilst also providing the fastest, lowest latency access possible to Russia’s over 100 million Internet users. 

“Ten years of experience, powerful infrastructure, investor support and the trust of our many Russian and international clients and partners give us grounds to be confident that our main goal – to become the best datacentre operator in Russia – will be achieved».

Konstantin Borman, Managing Director of IXcellerate, added: “The Russian capital is taking an increasingly important place in the global data-centric economy. Moscow is one of the TOP-5 largest data center markets in Europe in terms of energy capacity and is a key telecom hub on the way from Asia to Europe. By the end of 2021, the IT load of all Moscow commercial data centres will be about 260 MW. 

“We are building a giant ecosystem that combines a powerful infrastructure, high customer focus, neutrality and unlimited scalability. It is designed to meet the growing demand for the most modern and energy efficient solutions to support the development of the digital industry in Russia”.