Equinix is building its fourth data center in the Paris metro area. The US$145m construction project will bring online 1,500 cabinet equivalents in the first phase, expected to come online in the third quarter.

The cost figure includes price of the site and development support for the total of three phases. Equinix expects most of the investment to occur during 2012. At full build-out, the PA4 facility will provide about 118,000 sq ft of data center floor, or more than 4,500 cabinet equivalents.

Eric Schwartz, president of Equinix Europe, said Paris was a growing market for Equinix because of the importance of its location to the world economy.

"We continue to invest in Paris, and across Europe, to keep pace with the strong demand we've seen in this market," he said. "The new Paris IBX is an important addition that will support our growing base of network, financial, content, enterprise, and cloud and IT services customers."

First phase of the future facility has already been 20% sold, Equinix said. First phase of the last data center the company launched in the region, PA3, is now effectively full. Equinix plans to launch that facility's second phase in the second quarter of 2011 and expects it to be fully sold by the time PA4 comes online.