Global Data Solutions

What Global Data Solutions does

Global Data Solutions (GDS Holdings Limited / 万国数据), founded in 2001 and headquartered in Shanghai, designs, builds, and operates high-performance data centers in the People's Republic of China. The company is publicly listed on both NASDAQ (ticker: GDS) and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (ticker: 9698), with 96+ self-built data centers across four major economic regions and emerging national integrated computing network hubs, supported by an approximately 4GW secured land bank. GDS serves hyperscale cloud providers (Alibaba Cloud, ByteDance, Tencent Cloud, Baidu), large internet companies, financial institutions, telecom operators, and large enterprises through long-term enterprise contracts, with major customers pre-committing to MW-scale capacity before facilities go operational.

The company's core offerings span colocation services, managed hosting services, and managed cloud services, with proprietary technology including the AI-driven "AI Flexible Data Center Energy Saving" system (automated PUE optimization), the CloudMiX hybrid cloud management platform, the proprietary data center operation management platform (IBMS), and Smart DC modular construction methodology enabling 90-day deployment of 1,000 racks. GDS operates T3+ facilities with 99.99% service availability, carrier- and cloud-neutral positioning, and twice the floor area and power density of the average Chinese data center. Internationally, the former GDS International subsidiary was spun off and rebranded as DayOne in January 2025, with GDS retaining a ~24% minority stake; DayOne operates data centers across Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Japan, and Finland.

GDS generates revenue primarily through subscription-based multi-year colocation and managed services contracts priced per MW of IT load capacity, supplemented by managed cloud platform subscriptions and asset monetization via a 2025-launched China Real Estate Investment Trust (C-REIT). FY2025 net revenue reached RMB 11.432B (~$1.635B USD), with adjusted EBITDA margin of 47.3% and 75.5% data center utilization. Management has committed up to RMB 50 billion over three years for AI-focused capacity following record Q1 2026 bookings of approximately 200MW, alongside an RMB 30B+ commitment for a GW-level green-power-connected cluster in Ulanqab.

Name

Global Data Solutions

Legal name

GDS Services Limited

Website

https://gds-services.com

Company type

Public

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

Global Data Solutions (GDS Holdings) is one of China's largest carrier-neutral, high-performance data center operators, designing, building, and operating 96+ facilities across four core regions and serving hyperscale cloud providers (Alibaba, ByteDance, Tencent, Baidu), large internet companies, financial institutions, and enterprises via long-term colocation and managed service contracts.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Data Center Services (Colocation and Managed Hosting)

NAICS

Computer Facilities Management Services (541513), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182)

SIC

Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation (7374), Services-Management Services (8741)

akta.pro primary industry

Enterprise Data Centers & On-Prem Facilities (Owned/Operated) (HDABACAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Data Center Operations & Managed Services (Remote Hands, NOC/SOC) (HDABANAA), Data Center Property Management (BPAJAGAK), Modular & Prefabricated Data Centers (HDABACAH)

Keywords

• Data center colocation
• Managed hosting services
• Hybrid cloud management
• Hyperscale AI infrastructure
• Data center operations

Headquarters

HQ city

Shanghai

HQ country

China

HQ region

Asia

Offices16 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Infrastructure, Operations, Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Colocation / Data Center Hosting Services: Core revenue stream from providing highly secure, reliable, and fault-tolerant data center environments for customer servers and IT equipment. Revenue is generated through long-term contracts with hyperscale cloud providers, large internet companies, financial institutions, telecom operators, and large enterprises. Facilities are carrier and cloud-neutral.
2. Managed Hosting Services: Full-stack managed services covering the entire data center IT value chain including business continuity and disaster recovery, network management, data storage, system security, operating systems, database, and server middleware services. Delivered as recurring managed service contracts.
3. Managed Cloud Services (CloudMiX): Platform-based hybrid cloud management services enabling enterprises to integrate and control multi-cloud environments. Revenue from enterprise subscriptions for the CloudMiX platform providing unified management across private infrastructure and multiple public cloud providers.
4. China REIT (C-REIT) Asset Monetization: Launch of China Real Estate Investment Trust (C-REIT) in late 2025 to monetize data center assets at premium multiples (~22x 2026 EBITDA vs previous ~12x EBITDA), recycling proceeds into new AI-focused infrastructure. Raised RMB 2.25 billion ($315.8 million) in Q3 2025 C-REIT IPO.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Global Data Solutions (GDS Holdings Limited) designs, builds, and operates high-performance, carrier-neutral, cloud-neutral data centers in China, providing colocation, managed hosting, and managed cloud services to hyperscale cloud providers, large internet companies, financial institutions, and telecom operators. The company operates 96+ self-built data centers across China's four major economic regions and emerging national hub nodes, with a secured land bank of approximately 4GW supporting long-term enterprise contracts typically spanning 5–10 years.

Product overview

Global Data Solutions (万国数据/GDS Holdings) operates as a leading high-performance data center solution provider in China, offering a comprehensive portfolio of infrastructure and managed services. The core offerings include colocation services, managed hosting services, and managed cloud services, supported by proprietary platforms including CloudMiX for hybrid cloud management and Smart DC for next-generation AI-ready data center solutions. The company serves hyperscale cloud providers, large internet companies, financial institutions, and enterprises requiring high-density, high-reliability data center infrastructure.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• CloudMiX: A hybrid cloud management platform enabling enterprises to integrate and control hybrid cloud computing environments across private servers and public cloud providers.

Products and services

• Colocation Services Highly secure, reliable, and fault-tolerant environment for housing customer servers and related IT equipment, providing critical facilities space, power, racks, and cooling. Targeted at hyperscale cloud providers, large internet companies, financial institutions, and telecom operators on multi-year contracts.
• Managed Hosting Services Comprehensive managed services covering the data center IT value chain including business continuity, disaster recovery, network management, data storage, system security, operating systems, database, and server middleware services for large enterprise customers.
• Managed Cloud Services (CloudMiX) Hybrid cloud management services via the CloudMiX platform enabling enterprises to integrate and control multi-cloud environments across private infrastructure and multiple public cloud providers with support for multi-cloud, multi-platform, and multi-region connectivity, shared storage, security services, and disaster recovery.
• Smart DC (AI-ready modular data centers) Next-generation data center solution combining digital design, prefabricated production, centralized assembly, standardized installation, and intelligent operations to enable rapid AI-ready infrastructure deployment and 90-day delivery of 1,000 racks.

Quantifiable outcome

• Q1 2026 bookings ~200MW (record single quarter), 75.5% utilization rate, unit development costs declined ~15% over three years, current pricing generates 10-11% adjusted gross profit yield on stabilized assets
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

AI capability3 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered strategic, minor, flagship and core.

• EcoCeres / 怡斯莱strategicStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2026GDS and EcoCeres launched China's first HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil) pilot project for backup power at a GDS North China data center, using waste cooking oil from GDS's data centers to produce HVO bio-diesel that reduces lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90% compared to traditional diesel.
• EPG (Emerging Power Group)minorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 January 2026EPG, a provider of modular data center solutions, has already entered the supply chains of major domestic operators including ByteDance, Alibaba, and GDS. EPG has established overseas localization capabilities with factories in Malaysia and Shanghai.
• DayOne (万国数据国际 / GDS International)flagshipOthers · 1 October 2025DayOne was established in Singapore in 2022 and rebranded in January 2025 following formal separation from GDS Holdings. GDS Holdings retains approximately 24% fully diluted stake following DayOne's $385M share repurchase in January 2026. DayOne operates AI-optimized data centers across Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Japan, and Finland, with customer commitments for ~1GW of capacity. DayOne raised $2B+ in Series C led by Coatue at 100% premium to prior round. Planning dual Singapore-US IPO targeting $20B valuation and $5B fundraise. Banks selected: JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup.
• Indonesia Investment Authority (INA)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2025Indonesia Investment Authority (Indonesia's sovereign wealth fund, INA) co-invested in DayOne's data center platform as part of a global data center investment boom. INA has deployed approximately 74.5 trillion rupiah (~$5.4B) with about 30% directed toward digital infrastructure including AI data centers. INA participates as a strategic partner for Indonesia market development.
• OraclecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2025Oracle announced plans to expand into Indonesia by leasing data center space from DayOne at Nongsa Digital Park on Batam Island, marking Oracle's first cloud operation in Indonesia with capacity supporting at least 120MW. This is part of Oracle's broader Asia expansion and partnership with AI initiatives like OpenAI.
• CenergistrategicStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2024GDS entered a Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (VPPA) with Cenergi to support Malaysia's green energy transition. GDS became one of Malaysia's first approved green power offtakers under the Central Geographic Procurement Programme (CGPP), advancing renewable energy usage in data center operations.
• SK ecoplantstrategicStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2023SK ecoplant (subsidiary of SK Group) collaborated with GDS to develop and trial fuel cell technology to power data centers in Singapore — GDS's first deployment of hydrogen energy solutions for data center power supply.
• YTL PowercoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2022GDS entered a strategic partnership with YTL Power's Malaysian subsidiary in April 2022 to jointly develop 4 independent data centers totaling 112MW at the YTL Green Data Center Campus in Johor, Malaysia. First phase expected to become operational in 2023. YTL provides the green energy ecosystem and land; GDS provides data center development and operations expertise.
• 胜科工业 (Sembcorp Industries)strategicStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019GDS signed a strategic cooperation意向书 with Sembcorp's Chinese subsidiary to explore providing renewable energy solutions for GDS's domestic data centers in China, leveraging Sembcorp's expertise in renewable power generation, water management systems, and operational synergies.
• All Major Public Cloud Providers (AWS, Azure, Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud, Baidu Cloud, Huawei Cloud)coreTechnology or IntegrationGDS's data center ecosystem has attracted all leading public cloud providers, making GDS carrier-neutral and enabling customers to access all major PRC and global public clouds hosted in GDS facilities. GDS offers 'one-stop multi-cloud connection' with low latency and high bandwidth.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves10 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Direct peers

• Chindata Group: Chinese hyperscale-focused carrier-neutral data center operator serving ByteDance and other large internet companies. Most direct domestic competitor in China hyperscale colocation with overlapping customer base and capacity expansion strategy.
• Equinix: Global largest carrier-neutral colocation and interconnection data center operator. Directly comparable business model of high-density, multi-tenant colocation serving hyperscale cloud, large enterprise, and network providers across multiple geographies.
• CyrusOne: US-headquartered hyperscale data center operator with global footprint, owned by KKR/Global Infrastructure Partners. Direct peer in serving hyperscale cloud customers with high-density, scalable colocation services and similar long-term contracted revenue model.
• 21Vianet (VNET Group): Leading Chinese carrier-neutral data center services provider offering hosting, cloud, and managed services. Comparable to GDS in serving enterprise and hyperscale customers with multi-city footprint and managed cloud services portfolio.
• Digital Realty Trust: Global hyperscale and enterprise colocation data center provider with PlatformDIGITAL offering. Closely comparable to GDS in serving hyperscale cloud customers with large-footprint, high-density deployments and similar AI infrastructure positioning.
• Iron Mountain Data Centers: Global data center operator with hyperscale and enterprise colocation offering. Comparable business model with multi-region presence, customer concentration in regulated industries, and focus on data security and compliance.
• Sinnet (Aiwei Technology): Chinese data center operator affiliated with Aiwei (formerly Sinnet), focused on Beijing-area and tier-1 city hyperscale data centers. Direct competitor in Chinese enterprise and cloud data center market with significant government and enterprise customer base.

Broad incumbents

• Alibaba Cloud (Aliyun): Hyperscale cloud platform that operates its own data center infrastructure as well as leasing from GDS. Comparable in serving AI and cloud workloads in China, and is simultaneously GDS's largest customer and adjacent infrastructure competitor.
• NTT Global Data Centers: Global data center services arm of NTT Group with extensive Asia-Pacific footprint. Comparable in hyperscale colocation capability and APAC geographic presence, though part of broader diversified telecom and IT services portfolio.
• China Telecom / China Mobile / China Unicom (IDC divisions): State-owned telecom operators that operate large captive data center businesses in China. Comparable in data center services to Chinese enterprises and government, with significant scale advantages and preferential access to land, power, and capital.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance13 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds7 records

Investors6 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Global Data Solutions