Equinix Cape Town Airport Data Centre 1
Also known as Equinix Cape Town Airport Site 1, Equinix King David Golf Club Data Centre 1
- Status
- Announced
- Location
- Cape Town, South Africa
- Operator
- Equinix
- IT load
- Not disclosed
- Timeline
- Not disclosed
- Last verified
Overview
This record replaces the provisional equinix-ct2-cape-town identity. The source does not give official Equinix facility codes for the two proposed Cape Town sites.
Daily Maverick reports that the two proposed Equinix data centres are next to Cape Town International Airport, on the old King David Golf Club course, and together have a combined 160MW maximum-case demand. This record uses an equal 80MW split only because the source does not disclose per-site demand.
Capacity
What IT load means- Total facility power
- 80 MW
- Daily Maverick reports 160MW combined for two proposed Equinix sites; this record uses an equal split because per-site demand is not disclosed.
- estimated Source [s1]
Infrastructure
Tier certification explained- Cooling
- Air
- Equinix told Daily Maverick the Cape Town data centres would use dry, air-based cooling systems.
- reported Source [s1]
- AI cooling readiness
- Not assessed
Cooling adequacy for AI workloads has not been independently assessed for this facility.
AI racks draw around 100 kW each, about ten times a conventional rack, so rack-level liquid cooling is the key differentiator. Training versus inference
Power
PPAs and wheeling- Grid carbon intensity
- 900 g CO₂/kWh
- Grid-level Eskom-backed estimate, not facility-specific.
- estimated Source [s1]
- Backup
- diesel
- Daily Maverick reports city officials said data centres typically require near-100% backup, usually diesel generators plus UPS; Equinix had not disclosed generator details.
- estimated Source [s1]
Grid carbon in context
900 g CO₂/kWh: very high — coal-heavy grid. That is 2.1 times the global average of 436 g (IEA, 2022). For comparison, France is about 60, the UK about 175 and the US about 400.
Grid-level estimate. PPAs and on-site renewables may lower the effective footprint.
Water
Water stress explained- Water source
- None
- Water stress (WRI)
- High
Governance
Data residency explained- Data residency
- Data physically resident in South Africa under POPIA jurisdiction
Workloads
Training versus inference- General cloud
- Colocation
One of two proposed Equinix data centres next to Cape Town International Airport on the old King David Golf Club course. Equinix describes the combined 160MW as a maximum-case scenario rather than committed or immediately deliverable capacity.
Sources
How sources are ranked- [s1] New data centres set to swallow 34% of Cape Town's current electricity supply, Daily Maverick
local journalism Retrieved 29 June 2026 Not yet archived
What these source types mean
- local journalism
- Local news outlets; variable editorial standards, used for leads and corroboration.