Google Expands Data Centers In Asia
Here’s good news for those of us who are based in Asia, Google is
increasing the capacity of its two data centers the region. That means
better performing sites and services for those of us near to its
facilities in Singapore and Taiwan.
The U.S. company today announced
that its data center in Singapore, which opened its doors just 18
months ago, will be extended with the addition of a “a second, larger,
multilevel data center” right next door. This expansion will take
Google’s spending on its Singapore site to $500 million which, combined
with the $600 million it allocated to Taiwan, takes it past $1 billion
for Asia.
The new center in Singapore is due to be completed and online in two
years. For now, Google has shared a colorful but “not final” rendering
of what it could look like — the most important part, however,
is that it will help Google websites and services load faster across
Southeast Asia, India and the wider Asian region.
Google also appears to be planning a further expansion to its other
Asia-based data center, which is in Taiwan and opened in 2013.
Media reports last year speculated
that the company would invest $66 million to increase its capacity —
following an earlier $100 million expansion. A Google representative
declined to comment on plans for the site in Taiwan when we asked,
but the company did openly it would expand the site — which is located
in Changhua County — when it was announced in December 2013.
These expansions are particularly interesting given that Google abandoned plans
for a third data center, located in Hong Kong, back in 2013. (That was a
busy year for Google data centers in Asia.) Given real estate prices in
Asia, expanding its existing sites over time may have been
preferable to establishing an entirely new one — Google declined to
comment on that, however.
Google’s data centers don’t exclusively serve customers in their
immediate proximity, centers in the U.S. and Europe also serve Asia and
those in Asia can serve the U.S. too, but users who are located close to
a data center do enjoy faster running services. So, while Google’s
Asia-based users aren’t solely reliant on these expansions, they are
most definitely good news.
The U.S. company is beefing up its server capacity across the world — a $600 million center just went online in Oregon
— but the rise of mobile internet in Asia has made expansions in the
region particularly important. India alone is thought to have added 40 million new internet users
during the first half of this year, which gives an indication of the
increased load that Google and other companies are dealing with.
Courtesy: TechCrunch
