Digital Realty has launched a new data center in Frankfurt, Germany.

The company this week announced the opening of a new facility FRA18 at its Digital Park Fechenheim campus along Hanauer Landstrasse.

The data center offers 8,200 square meters of colocation space, launching with an initial capacity of 6.4MW in its first phase, with an additional 9.6MW expected to come online in later phases.

Digital said the facility is designed to support high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) workloads.

“Our vision for Digital Park Fechenheim is innovation at every level,” said Volker Ludwig, SVP and managing director, DACH, at Digital Realty. “We are committed to preserving the historic significance of the site while delivering cutting-edge technology solutions that empower our customers and enhance data security.”

The colo firm said this is Germany’s first data center located in a historically preserved building, in the former Necerkmann headquarters. The building, complete with its signature staircases, balconies, and rainwater management system, remains intact, while former distribution floors have been transformed into data halls.

The site will incorporate a heat reuse system, repurposing residual heat from the facility, in partnership with Mainova.

Based in the east of the city at the former headquarters of the German mail-order company Neckermann, the park includes the Egon-Eiermann building. Designed by German modernist architect Egon Eiermann and built around 1959 in 180 days, the seven-story concrete building is seen as one of the earliest examples of the modern industrial age. Neckermann went into bankruptcy in 2012; Interxion acquired the site in 2020.

In August 2021, Digital Realty's now-rebranded Interxion unit laid the foundation stone for its new Digital Park Fechenheim data center campus in Frankfurt and began work on the first FRA17 data center at the site.

When fully built out – Digital Realty is suggesting as early as 2028 – the park will host 11 data centers and an IT area of ​​100,000 square meters (1 million sq ft) and 200MW of capacity. The first building, FRA17, went live around 2023. FRA27, at the same campus, is also listed as live on the company’s website.

Digital Core REIT acquires stake in Osaka facility

This week also saw Digital Core REIT, a Singapore-listed data center REIT listed in Singapore and sponsored by Digital Realty, acquire a stake in a data center in Osaka, Japan.

The company this week completed the acquisition of a 20 percent interest in a fully-fitted freehold data center in Osaka – Digital Osaka 3 (aka KIX12) – from Mitsubishi Corporation for ¥13 billion ($87 million).

The purpose-built facility, located on Digital Realty’s Osaka campus, was completed in July 2021. It offers 19.9MW of IT load across 193,535 sq ft. The fully occupied facility is predominantly leased to “leading global cloud providers.”

Digital Core REIT previously acquired a stake in another Osaka data center from Mitsubishi.

Digital Core REIT also acquired a 10 percent interest in Digital Osaka 2 (aka KIX11) in November 2023, taking a further 10 percent in April 2024.

Digital Realty and Mitsubishi formed a $1.8bn joint venture known as MC Digital Realty in 2017. Digital Realty’s existing data center in Saito, Osaka, and Mitsubishi’s Mitako facility in Tokyo were transferred to the JV; the JV now operates nine data centers across Tokyo and Osaka.

The KIX11 facility, launched in 2017, was the JV's second in Osaka following the 8MW KIX10 (also known as Digital Osaka 1). A third facility opened in 2021 alongside a new data center in Tokyo, with a fourth Osaka facility, known as KIX13, opening in 2023.

Singapore-listed Digital Core REIT was set up by Digital Realty to hold a number of its stabilized data centers.