TORONTO, CANADA – JANUARY 29, 2025 Yondr Group, a leading global developer, owner and operator of hyperscale data centers, has held a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the start of work on site for its 27MW Toronto data center. 

The project, which Yondr is building on a 4.5-acre site, is the company’s first development in Canada. It forms part of Yondr’s global expansion, as the business continues to deliver reliable and resilient data center capacity at speed and at scale, with projects currently completed or in progress in North America, Europe and Asia.  

The groundbreaking in Toronto follows the completion of the company’s 48MW data center project in Northern Virginia and the first ready for service (RFS) milestone for the company’s 40MW Frankfurt data center last November. 

The ceremony was attended by Councillor Shelley Carroll of Don Valley North, who also gave a speech highlighting the city’s thriving digital economy and emphasised Toronto’s vision of becoming a global hub for innovation and talent. The event also brought together key stakeholders all united in their vision of building a more connected and future-proofed Toronto. 

Situated in a strategic location within Canada’s emerging data center hub, the project comprises a three-storey, 27MW data center, which is scheduled to achieve RFS by mid-2026. The project has been designed by Yondr to follow the Toronto Green Standard, the city’s sustainable design and performance requirements for new developments and this aligns to the company’s environmental goals and target for achieving net zero for scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 2030. 

The building will feature a closed loop cooling design, which means once the chilled water loop is filled, the facility will not need to consume water for cooling. Once completed, the project will have bike parking, electric vehicle charging points and will open up pedestrian walkways. The environmentally friendly landscaping plan will have native and pollinator plants and the building’s glass will be bird-friendly, helping birds to see the building as a barrier and avoid collisions. 

As part of its social impact initiatives, Yondr has partnered with the University of Toronto to fund a scholarship programme. ‘The Yondr Group Scholarship’ will be available to undergraduate students at the university entering courses in Computer Science, the Rotman Commerce business programme, Life Sciences, or Mathematical & Physical Sciences.  

Successful applicants will receive $5,000 per year for five years, with the first awards being made to students starting their studies at the beginning of the 2025/26 academic year this coming autumn. 

Kent Andersson, Program Controls Director for the Americas at Yondr Group, said: “Our Toronto data center forms a key part of our strategy for North America, where there is an urgent need to increase capacity to support the digital economy. This project will play a key role in providing the infrastructure needed to support cutting-edge cloud computing and connectivity and enable the development of AI and future technologies in Canada and beyond. 

“We would like to thank the Canadian authorities, including the City of Toronto and our strategic partners for supporting a positive approach to bringing this project from concept to site, and I look forward to seeing the data center take shape on site over the coming months.”