Reacting to growing demand for data center capacity, data center provider Global Switch is planning to invest about £1bn (about US$1.59bn) in expanding its facility footprint in Asia-Pacific and Europe. The company is planning to add more than 1.1m sq ft of space by 2013, its executive chairman John Corcoran told the Financial Times (registration required).

The expansion program is a response to both existing and anticipated demand, Corcoran explained. “We’re now seeing increased levels of demand across the board from our customers, while the advent of cloud computing can only accentuate this trend,” he said.

First step will be to add 50,000 sq ft to Global Switch’s Singapore data center and 185,000 sq ft to its Paris facility. Also on the slate is a 365,000-sq-ft expansion in Sydney and another one in Amsterdam.

The Paris facility is due for completion this year and the Sydney project is scheduled to start this year.

Global Switch is pursuing a planning permission to build a new data center in London - near its existing one opposite Canary Wharf. A Hong Kong expansion is also in the works.

The company currently owns and operates more than 3m sq ft of data center space, cumulatively valued at about £3.2bn (about US$5.09), across seven locations, according to the Financial Times.

Global Switch is rumored to be preparing for an initial public offering sometime within the next several years, but Corcoran said a float was out of the question at least this year, explaining that it would require more stability in the equity markets, and that the company’s current owners David and Simon Reuben were not anxious to sell the firm.