NTT’s Global Data Centers division plans to develop and operate its first data center campus in the Paris market, one of Europe’s key data center regions.
It comprises 14.4 hectares (approx. 35.5 acres) and will support a planned capacity of 84MW of critical IT load across three data centers. The site is located 50km south of Paris in Le Coudray-Montceaux and Corbeil-Essonnes, near critical digital infrastructure, and has power reserved for day one deployment.
Paris is a crucial market for NTT’s ongoing European data center footprint expansion plans.
"This investment complements our existing and growing presence in Frankfurt, London, and Amsterdam and will complete our footprint in the FLAP Tier 1 markets in Europe," said Florian Winkler, Chief Executive Officer EMEA and Global Chief Operating Officer, NTT Global Data Centers. "We will develop our presence in the Paris metro area in close partnership with the local municipalities, partners, and the government.
While this is NTT GDC’s first French campus, NTT Communications has previously listed data centers in Paris. Paris 2 was located at 88 Champs-Élysées in the center of the capital.
A long, high-tech history
NTT is conducting the build through a partnership with Logistics Capital Partners, which had first acquired the former brownfield site in 2019 through a public auction and subsequently managed the demolition, decontamination, and obtained the permits and necessary power connections for data center usage.
Logistics Capital Partners (LCP), a Pan-European industrial site investor and developer, will remain strategically involved in supporting the development and delivery of this new campus.
Since its founding in 2015, LCP has developed more than 10 million sq ft of logistics and industrial assets in Europe.
Having a long history as a high-tech site, it is fitting that NTT will house its latest data center at this site, which was known as Data Village.
For over 70 years, the Data Village site was initially used by IBM, followed by Altis for producing semiconductor electronic components for various industries. In 2018, Altis went bankrupt and was purchased by Xfab, while the unused plot of land (with an abandoned standing building on it) was sold to LCP.
After LCP acquired the site, it began the development of a 125 MW IT data center campus, divided into two 50 MW IT units and a third 25 MW IT unit, according to LCP’s website. To make this development possible, LCP secured 125 MW of utility power with RTE, expandable up to 210 MW.
Global growth plan
The Paris expansion is part of NTT’s $10 billion global investment in growth across 10 data centers in the US, India, Germany, and Malaysia last year.
Besides Paris, NTT has announced new data center campuses in Virginia in the United States and Noida and Chennai in India.
It will also address two of the company’s main goals: meeting the world’s ever-increasing data needs and driving towards achieving net-zero emissions targets for its operations, including sourcing 100% renewable energy by 2030.
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Sean Buckley
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