US colo giant Equinix has launched its third data center in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Announced this week, the company said it has invested R$500 million (US$94m) in the project, known as RJ3.

The new International Business Exchange (IBX) data center will offer the equivalent of 560 racks across 1,465 sqm (15,770 sq ft) of colocation space in its first phase.

RJ3, located near Via Dutra, will be connected via a redundant fiber ring to RJ2 some 17km (10.56 miles) away in Del Castilho. RJ1 is located in Botafogo.

Plans for RJ3 were announced back in May 2024.

Equinix said RJ3 is the company’s first facility in Brazil equipped with Cool Array technology; used as part of a cold flood/hot aisle containment scheme on the slab, the company said it can support very dense, air-cooled workloads. Equinix is ​​already using Cool Array technology in more than 30 data centers in operation or under construction, including SG5 in Singapore and BG2 in Colombia.

The company said it expects to operate RJ3 at around 27°C (80°F).

Equinix entered Brazil in 2011, when it acquired a majority stake in local operator Alog Datacenters alongside private equity firm Riverwood Capital. Equinix acquired the rest of the company from Riverwood in 2014.

Founded in 2005, Rio-based Alog merged with São Paulo firm ComDomino in 2007. Equinix and Riverwood acquired the company for $225 million, taking over a single facility in Rio and São Paulo. RJ2 opened in 2013.

A version of this story appeared on our Brazilian edition.