Company: GDHLF
Filing Date: 2025-04-28
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0001410578-25-000935
Chunk: 47

Company: GDS Holdings Ltd
Filing Date: 2025-04-28
Form: 20-F
Item: Item 3
Chunk 47
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ifying competition and pushing down utilization rates across operators.

A sustained decline in pricing for our data center services could significantly impact our revenue growth, gross margins, and return on invested capital, particularly given the high fixed cost structure and capital intensity of our business. Declining average revenue per square meter or per kilowatt could also impair our ability to recover upfront capital expenditures and reduce the attractiveness of new development projects.

If pricing pressure continues or intensifies, and we are unable to offset the impact through cost efficiencies, operational scale, or higher-value service offerings, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

We may not be able to compete effectively against our current and future competitors.

We offer a broad range of data center services and, as a result, we may compete with a wide range of data center service providers for some or all of the services we offer. Policies promoted by the PRC government concerning the concept of “new infrastructure” may encourage and result in a new wave of investment in, among other things, largescale data centers, artificial intelligence and industrial internet at all levels of the economy. Accordingly, there may be an increase in the number of companies engaging in the data center services business due to the numerous opportunities presented by such policies, which may result in increased competition in our industry.

Table of Contents

We face competition from the state-owned telecommunications carriers, namely China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile, domestic and international carrier-neutral data center service providers and other global telecommunications carriers. Our current and future competitors may vary by size and service offerings and geographic presence. See “ Item 4. Information on the Company - B. Business Overview - Competition.”

Competition is primarily centered on reputation and track record, quality and availability of data center capacity, quality of service, technical expertise, security, reliability, functionality, breadth and depth of services offered, geographic coverage, financial strength and price. Some of our current and future competitors may have greater brand recognition, marketing, technical and financial resources than we do. As a result, some of our competitors may be able to:

  bundle colocation services with other services or equipment they provide at reduced prices;  

  develop superior products or services, gain greater market acceptance, and expand their service offerings more efficiently or rapidly;  

  adapt to new or emerging technologies and changes in customer requirements more quickly;  
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  take advantage of acquisition and other opportunities more readily; and  

  adopt more aggressive