Next Generation Data (NGD) is building a new data hall at its site in South Wales, thanks to a long-term contract from an unnamed global company. 

The customer will get a dedicated self-contained hall, costing $15 million (£10m) which will be completed by Christmas, and will be the 19th data center hall at the site, just off the M4 motorway between Newport and Cardiff.

Record year

NGD already added five fully-sold data halls earlier in 2015, in a $12 million (£8m) expansion to the site, that created room for several multinational customers as well as local businesses. 

The 750,000 sq ft (70,000 sq m) facility was opened six years ago in a former electronics factory, and so far $45 million (£30m) has been invested in it. NGD gets all its power from the giant Welsh Dynorwig hydroelectric plant.

“This has been an exceptional year for NGD and 2016 promises to be even better,” said Simon Taylor, Chairman, Next Generation Data. 

We contacted NGD to ask who the big new customer is, and were told it was a secret. Other customers include Azlan, which moved into NGD to give customers the option of UK-based storage.