82% of Asia-Pacific Businesses Plan to Expand into New Markets in the Next 12 Months

Hong Kong – July 7, 2022 – Businesses around the world are planning major investments in digital technologies to support ambitious expansion plans following lessons learned from the pandemic. New findings from an annual survey of technology decision-makers, by Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX), suggest that businesses in Asia-Pacific appear to remain bullish about their plans for further global expansion despite the impacts of the pandemic over the past two years.

IT leaders in Asia-Pacific were most confident about expansion in the world. Of the 2,900 IT decision-makers surveyed globally in the Equinix 2022 Global Tech Trends Survey, IT leaders in Asia-Pacific expressed the highest intention to expand into new markets in the next 12 months (82%). Perhaps reflecting more caution around economic factors, tech decision-makers in EMEA were less ambitious in terms of expansion plans with only 59% plan to expand into a new market in the next year.

According to Jeremy Deutsch, President, Asia-Pacific, Equinix, “We are thrilled to see business leaders in Asia-Pacific prepare for international expansion and show more determination to speed up their pace for digitization, despite current financial concerns and operational constraints from global supply chains. This current trend is in line with findings from our latest study, where 82% of IT leaders in Asia-Pacific were confident about global expansion strategies. Equinix is dedicated to helping our customers and partners seize every business opportunity through our global platform and interconnected digital ecosystem, especially under the post-pandemic landscape as businesses continue to navigate their digital transformation journeys to thrive in today's digital world.”

Meanwhile, findings from the report highlight that the pandemic continues to significantly impact businesses’ digital strategies. More than half of Asia-Pacific IT leaders (58%) said they are accelerating their company’s digital evolution because of the COVID-19 crisis. Indeed, 63% of IT leaders confirmed their IT budgets have increased as a direct outcome of its legacy, which is significantly higher than all other regions—an insight into the now broadly acknowledged necessity for robust digital infrastructure to pivot to evolving business needs in an instant. Furthermore, the majority of respondents in Asia-Pacific (63%) believe the technology changes and investments implemented during the pandemic are here to stay.

One such investment is in the cloud, with hybrid cloud models being the preferred approach for 42% of respondents. 83% of IT leaders are working with two or more cloud providers, indicating the need of a multicloud infrastructure. Interconnection may step in to help here, with respondents believing it facilitates digital transformation (40%), improves network optimization (40%), and increases flexibility of connectivity (39%)

However, a number of potentially limiting factors were identified by businesses when it came to global growth, with significant concerns around cybersecurity highlighted as a particular area of concern. According to IT leaders in the region, the most feared threats were security breaches and data leaks (74%), followed by cyber attacks (71%), changing regulatory requirements around data privacy (67%), and challenges working with more complex digital supply chains (67%). As a result, 86% of respondents in Asia-Pacific confirmed a key priority is improving cybersecurity as part of their digital-first strategies.

Rick Villars, Group Vice President for Worldwide Research at IDC noted: “Even as enterprises seek to navigate the waves of disruptions associated with inflation, supply chain disruptions, and unmet skills needs that arose in the first half of 2022, IDC consistently hears from IT leaders that timely and expansive access to innovative technology, interconnectivity, and intelligent SaaS resources is critical. Companies like Equinix, that can speed access to needed facilities and connectivity options while also enabling more effective use of hybrid and multicloud services, will play a vital role in helping IT teams make sustainable technology investment decisions and take full advantage of SaaS and digital infrastructure.”

In addition, the survey revealed that in the Asia-Pacific region:

• Customer and employee experience prioritized: Recognizing digital adoption affects end users, 82% of IT leaders said enhancing customer experience was a top priority. Companies also acknowledged that employee experience is critical to their transformation journey and talent retention, with 81% citing this.
• Deploying a 3^rd party data center: A majority (77%) of IT leaders stated that they are moving IT infrastructure to a 3^rd party data center, a relatively outstanding percentage compared to other regions like AMER (67%) and EMEA (61%).  
• The rise of 5G: 5G is paving the way for technology advancement developments, and 51% of IT leaders believe that having a robust 5G network will allow their organizations to take advantage of new technologies such as AI and IoT. 43% said they need to rearchitect their IT infrastructure to support 5G capabilities.
• Optimistic plans for Web3: 69% of IT leaders positively respond to Web3 strategies and include them in business plans. Over half (54%) of IT leaders believe that Web3 will replace Web2.0 within the next 1-5 years.
• Investing in innovation: Many IT leaders are looking to futureproof their businesses and take full advantage of evolving technologies, such as 5G, the internet of things (IoT), and Web3. 81% of respondents said they are moving to an everything as a service (XaaS) model, citing the simplification of IT infrastructure (64%), flexibility (63%), and improved user experience (60%) as the key reasons for doing so.
• Focusing on sustainability: While innovating, digital leaders are keeping a close eye on the sustainability of their IT infrastructure. 71% said they are measuring and actively trying to limit the environmental impact of their IT equipment, and 72% will only work with IT partners who can meet key carbon reduction targets. Indeed, 75% reported that sustainability is now one of their organization’s most important drivers, with commitments made to science-based targets.

To read more about the Global Tech Trends Survey or download a copy, please visit: Equinix 2022 Global Tech Trends Survey

About the Survey

The independent study, commissioned by Equinix, surveyed 2,900 IT decision-makers in diverse enterprises across the Americas (Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, U.S.), Asia-Pacific (Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea), and EMEA (Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UAE, UK). Respondents were selected for participation from Dynata’s online panel. The survey was conducted online between March 1, 2022 and March 29, 2022.

Learn more about The Future of Digital Leadership.

About Equinix

Equinix (Nasdaq: EQIX) is the world’s digital infrastructure company™, enabling digital leaders to harness a trusted platform to bring together and interconnect the foundational infrastructure that powers their success. Equinix enables today’s businesses to access all the right places, partners and possibilities they need to accelerate advantage. With Equinix, they can scale with agility, speed the launch of digital services, deliver world-class experiences and multiply their value.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from expectations discussed in such forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to, the challenges of acquiring, operating and constructing IBX^® datacenters and developing, deploying and delivering Equinix products and solutions; unanticipated costs or difficulties relating to the integration of companies we have acquired or will acquire into Equinix; a failure to receive significant revenues from customers in recently built out or acquired datacenters; a failure to complete any financing arrangements contemplated from time to time; competition from existing and new competitors; the ability to generate sufficient cash flow or otherwise obtain funds to repay new or outstanding indebtedness; the loss or decline in business from our key customers; risks related to our taxation as a REIT; and other risks described from time to time in Equinix filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In particular, see recent Equinix quarterly and annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which are available upon request from Equinix. Equinix does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release.

Media Contact (Asia-Pacific)
Equinix
Annie Ho
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