First appeared in Cushman & Wakefield’s report on the top global data center markets, but Ho Chi Minh City has been evaluated with great potential.
According to Cushman & Wakefield, while most of the largest markets in Asia Pacific (APAC) are under particularly high pressure from rising land prices, only Ho Chi Minh City is among the top 10 most affordable places to develop data centers.
The report notes that the land price in HCMC is currently less than USD 10/sqft (each sqft is equivalent to 0.0929 m2). This price is equivalent to Johor, Kuala Lumpur and almost half of Sydney. Compared to the more developed markets in APAC such as Amsterdam and Melbourne, land prices in HCMC are only 1/3 of the price.
In the same group as HCMC, there are 9 other markets, including Columbus, Santiago, Johannesburg, Atlanta, Nashville, Phoenix, Austin, Denver, and Chicago.
Land prices per square meter of the major global data center markets. Photo: C&W.
Together with the fact that more than 70% of the population already uses the internet, this research unit highlights that Vietnam has great potential for data center development in the future.
“We are seeing significant interest and investment in Bangkok, HCMC, Hyderabad, Johor and Manila. We expect this to continue along with interest in other primary and secondary markets in the region,” said Vivek Dahiya, Cushman & Wakefield Data Center Manager at APAC.
So far, Ho Chi Minh City has even had some major data center ecosystem projects. Recently, VNG officially opened VNG Data Center with a scale of 7,800 m2, usable floor space up to 12,400 m2 in Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone (District 7).
Previously, this export processing zone also had a CMC Telecom data center that opened in August 2022 with a total area of over 13,000 m2. The investor said the facility was 30% full prior to launch.
In Ho Chi Minh City Hi-Tech Park (Thu Duc City), Gaw Capital has finalized the investment agreement in the first phase of a data center project with a scale of more than 6,000 m2, capacity up to 20 MW, completion plan completed in 2024. NTT GDC and the Vietnamese company Quang Dung Technology (QD.Tek) also collaborated on the development of another data center that is scheduled to start operations in the same year, with a capacity of 6 MW.
Meanwhile, an Australian data center company, Edge Centers, has expanded into Asia by deploying its first 100% solar-powered data center, EC51, in Ho Chi Minh City. The group also has plans for an additional facility in District 1.
Viettel also announced a plan to build a new data center with a total investment of USD 260 million. While details of the facility are still unclear, this will be Viettel’s third project in Ho Chi Minh City.
A statistic from mid-2021 shows that Vietnam has 27 data centers invested and developed by 11 companies. However, Ms. Trang Bui, general manager of Cushman & Wakefield Vietnam, said Vietnam’s data and digital infrastructure is still fragmented and underdeveloped when compared to the market’s population size and demand for internet services.
“However, this limitation is also an opportunity for investors to get involved early and build data centers. According to our data, the majority of foreign developers coming to Vietnam will want to sign cooperation agreements with domestic developers,” she added.
In 2021, research and reporting firm ResearchAndMarkets (Ireland) also named Vietnam as one of the 10 emerging data center markets globally. Market revenue in 2020 is estimated to be approximately USD 858 million and compound annual growth could reach nearly 15% through 2026.
@ Zing News
