NTT and Equinix lead a fragmented but rapidly growing APAC colo market

Across the region as a whole the leaders are NTT and Equinix, based on second quarter colocation revenues. They are also the two companies that can lay claim to having the strongest pan-regional presence, as each has a substantial market share in at least four of the main APAC countries. The companies ranked third to fifth in the region are all Chinese firms that are focused almost exclusively on their home market – China Telecom, GDS and 21Vianet. While those companies benefit from the sheer scale of their home market, other well-established colocation providers who feature strongly in two or more country markets include KDDI Telehouse, STT GDC, Global Switch, Digital Realty and Keppel. Relatively new entrants to the multi-country scene that have aggressive growth plans include AirTrunk, Princeton Digital Group and Chindata.

The diverse nature of the leadership rankings reflects the structure of the APAC market. While it is home to the massive Chinese and Japanese colocation markets, which are bested only by the US in terms of scale, those two countries account for less than 60% of regional revenues. The next biggest country markets in the region are Singapore, Australia, India and Hong Kong, all of which feature in the worldwide top ten ranking for colocation. Outside of these top six APAC countries, South Korea is a substantial market that is currently seeing very strong growth. Relative to other regions, APAC is just behind North America in terms of current scale but well ahead of EMEA. APAC is growing much more rapidly than the other two major regions and its growth will continue to outpace them over the next five years. In 2022 APAC will overtake North America to become the largest regional colocation market.

"APAC is a really interesting market. While at first glance the region might appear to share some characteristics with the European market, it is actually very different," said John Dinsdale, a Chief Analyst at Synergy Research Group. "APAC is less homogeneous than Europe in terms of regulatory, cultural, economic, business and operational issues. China is an extremely difficult business proposition for non-Chinese data center operators while both Japan and India are also difficult markets to penetrate. But the fact remains that it is a high growth region and the amount of focus it is getting from hyperscale operators will help to drive future growth, especially on the wholesale side of the colocation market."