Campana to build $20m data centre corridor in Southeast Asia

The huge investment into Southeast Asia's bustling data center industry continues.

Singapore-based Campana Group are welcoming a US$20 million investment following a series B funding round from Japan's Mitsui - Co, with global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills acting to advise the transaction.

According to Herbert Smith Freehills, this investment into Campana will go towards the construction of the largest high-speed data center corridor connecting Singapore and Myanmar, with prebuilt connections for Thailand.

"This is typical of the increasing investment we're seeing in data and tech infrastructure in Asia, and in Southeast Asia in particular," says Herbert Smith Freehills Asia head of TMT Mark Robinson.

"The new network will utilize submarine cables and land connections to meet the demand from Myanmar's rapid growth in online activity."

Of course, this data center connection comes at a time where there has been a hive of activity in the region.

Examples of this so far this year have been Google and Facebook both announcing colossal hyperscale data centers in Singapore, while Equinix announced an expansion of its largest data center in Asia Pacific. And then only last week Amazon announced it would be investing almost a billion dollars into its data center operations in Indonesia.

Technavio released a report that revealed the multi-billion Southeast Asia data center market is set undergo substantial growth, more than doubling its value over the next four years. The analyst agency has set a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.88 percent during the period 2017-2021, but perhaps most importantly, the wider Asia continent is expected to overtake Europe as the largest data center market worldwide by 2021.

Robinson, in collaboration with Herbert Smith Freehills Japan head of corporate Graeme Preston, will advise Mistui, assited by senior associate James Hearne in Tokyo, and in Singapore by senior associates Peggy Chow, Mia Harrison-Kelf, Victor Chiew, and associate Nang Su Wai.

"We are very proud to advise Mitsui again, and of the scope of investments on which we have advised the company," says Preston.

"In addition to technology, we have recently assisted with its 'new business' investments in healthcare, renewables, agribusiness and complex materials."