Chindata Group, the third largest carrier-neutral data center operator in China, today announced its Q3 2021 earnings and provided updates on its data center portfolio, leasing win from a Chinese cloud service provider, development pipeline, and geographic expansions into Malaysia and Thailand.
Financial Performance in Q3 2021 – Chindata Group
In Q3 2021, Chindata Group reported revenue of RMB741m ($115m), a 7.9% increase quarter-over-quarter, and adjusted EBITDA of RMB368m ($57.2m), an 8.8% increase quarter-over-quarter. Therefore, the company’s EBITDA margin was 49.7% in Q3 2021, a ~40 bps improvement quarter-over-quarter.
Full-Year 2021 Outlook – Reiterated Guidance
For full-year 2021, Chindata projects revenue of RMB2,780m to RMB2,830m ($431m to $439m). Additionally, the company forecasts adjusted EBITDA of RMB1,350m to RMB1,400m ($210m to $217m). Finally, the mid-point of the company’s guidance implies a year-over-year increase of 53% and 61% in revenue and EBITDA, respectively.
Operational Performance in Q3 2021 – Chindata Group
Portfolio
Chindata Group operates 15 data centers in China and Malaysia comprising 370 megawatts of IT capacity in-service. During Q3 2021, Chindata’s in-service capacity increased by 9 megawatts, which was primarily attributable to a 7-megawatt increase in capacity at CN09 in the Greater Beijing Area.
Geographically, the company has 14 data centers in China and one in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Within China, the company’s facilities are clustered around Beijing, including the neighboring provinces of Hebei and Shanxi. Finally, the company is developing a 20-megawatt facility in Mumbai, India.
Contracted (In-Service)
As of Q3 2021, 327 megawatts, equivalent to 88%, of Chindata’s total data center capacity was contractually committed. Notably, this represents a decline on both an absolute and relative basis from 329 megawatts, equivalent to 91%, contracted in Q2 2021. Primarily, the reduction was due to a 3-megwatt decrease in contracted capacity at CN02, a wholesale data center, in the Greater Beijing Area.
Utilization
In Q3 2021, Chindata’s utilization was 268 megawatts, implying a rate of 72.4%, compared to 69.5% in Q2 2021, representing a 2.9% improvement. As such, the company added 17 megawatts of utilized capacity quarter-over-quarter. Specifically, the improvement during the quarter was driven by ramp-ups of Chindata’s CN06, CN08, CN09, CN11-A and CN11-B data centers in the Greater Beijing Area.
Leasing
Chindata targets hyperscale customers, with its two largest clients being ByteDance (owner of TikTok) and Wangsu, a content delivery network (CDN) in China. Additionally, in Malaysia, Chindata has secured Microsoft as a customer.
In November 2021, Chindata noted a “major breakthrough achieved in client diversification”. Particularly, in China, the company won the bidding and received a confirmed demand of 27 megawatts of capacity from a “top-2” Chinese cloud service provider (i.e., Alibaba Cloud or Tencent Cloud). Chindata intends to deliver the project in several phases in two locations in Northern China, with each location delivering ~13 megawatts of IT capacity.
Development Pipeline
As of Q3 2021, Chindata has 9 data centers under construction comprising 218 megawatts of IT capacity. Of this total capacity, 76% was contracted, including indications of interest (IOIs). During the quarter, Chindata secured 18 megawatts of newly contracted capacity at CN12 (5 megawatts) and CN13 (13 megawatts) in the Greater Beijing Area, which it converted from its existing IOI capacity.
Of Chindata’s total 218-megawatt development pipeline, the company will deliver 33 megawatts of IT capacity by the end of 2021. Furthermore, the remaining 185 megawatts of IT capacity will be ready for service throughout 2022.
Capital Expenditures
Over the past 12 months, Chindata has deployed RMB3.57bn ($554m) in total capital expenditures. For full-year 2021, the company expects to make capital expenditures of RMB4.0bn ($621m) to RMB5.0bn ($776m).
Geographic Expansion – Malaysia, Thailand
Chindata disclosed two new geographic expansion projects into the data center markets of Malaysia and Thailand during the quarter. Additionally, the company is actively exploring opportunities in other Southeast Asia countries, such as Vietnam and Indonesia.
Malaysia
In Malaysia, Chindata is launching a new greenfield development project in Johor State, which is proximate to Singapore. Specifically, this development will be a build-to-suit hyperscale data center. Presently, the company has received a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for capacity of 80+ megawatts. Chindata expects to deliver this new data center to an anchor customer in several phases starting from 2022.
Thailand
In Thailand, Chindata is close to finalizing a business acquisition located in Bangkok. Upon completion of a technical upgrade, the data center will offer 5 megawatts of IT capacity.
