AI and sustainability are on a collision course, says Equinix CEO
Digital infrastructure companies like US$77 billion giant Equinix are enjoying a bonanza thanks to AI. But boosting supply to meet demand is a struggle, and doing so in a green way is even harder.
It’s a good time to be a tenured company in the data centre industry. Celebrating its 25th anniversary in June, Equinix rings out 2023 with a market cap of USD77 billion – very close to its September 2021 peak.
CEO Charles Meyers fancies Equinix as an “interconnection” company. Its business includes data centres, but also services that connect cloud platforms, internet providers and mobile networks together. The company’s success was built in three waves, he tells Capital Brief. First was the advent of the internet, followed in 2010 by cloud computing. Then there was the pandemic, which accelerated digital transformation. Now Equinix is looking to AI for its next act.
Let me see if I understand why AI is a boom to your business, and you can correct me if I'm wrong. Firstly, AI development largely happens at data centres and so there’s an obvious link there. But also it’s impetus for more digital transformation, which is an roundabout way is also good for Equinix. Is that about right?
It's a very multifaceted and multi-layered sort of impact to our business.
It's an accelerant to digital transformation. It does act as a broader accelerant for people to be thinking about digital transformation and therefore how they would think about digital infrastructure and how they might use Equinix as a part of that overall puzzle.
