Power delivery issues 'hit returns' on data centres

Keith D Taylor, chief financial officer of Equinix, made the comment during a Nasdaq Investors conference earlier this month. He was speaking about various cities where the company has land for data centre development.

Taylor listed some of the issues the company is facing in Amsterdam, where there is currently a moratorium on data centre development, and in Singapore, which he said is becoming "more restrictive".

On Dublin, where Equinix has four data centres, Taylor said power delivery was an issue, highlighting it as one which could affect other markets.

"I think [in] other markets you're going to see, Dublin as an example ... access to power. It's not the fact that you can build. You can build, but then you don't have access to power delivery. And so it's very difficult to deliver an appropriate return under that scenario."

In response to questions from the Sunday Independent on Taylor's comments, a spokeswoman for Equinix said the Irish market was experiencing rapid growth, leading to challenges in making enough power available to data centre providers.