Company: GDHLF
Filing Date: 2025-04-28
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0001410578-25-000935
Chunk: 147

Company: GDS Holdings Ltd
Filing Date: 2025-04-28
Form: 20-F
Item: Item 4
Chunk 147
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ITEM 4. INFORMATION ON THE COMPANY

A. History and Development of the Company

We are an exempted company and were incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands on December 1, 2006. Our ADSs are listed on the Nasdaq under the symbol “ GDS.” Our ordinary shares are listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the stock code “9698.”

We operate our business through our wholly-owned subsidiaries, joint ventures, the VIEs and their subsidiaries. We own 100% of the shares in EDC Holding, an exempted company also incorporated in the Cayman Islands, through which we indirectly hold 100% of the equity interests in holding companies in Hong Kong, many of which own our data centers through one or more data center companies. Through EDC Holding we also indirectly hold 100% of the equity interests in GDS Investment Company.

The following are our key business milestones:

In 2001, we started our business as an IT service provider. Our initial focus was on business continuity and disaster recovery solutions. Many of our early customers were financial service institutions with demanding IT compliance standards. To guarantee the reliability and availability of services to them, we leased data center capacity from third parties.

In 2009, after realizing that there was a shortage of qualified data center capacity in key markets, we began developing our own data centers, thereby entering the data center business. We established our presence in Shanghai and Chengdu in 2010 and 2011, by bringing three data centers into service in these markets. From 2013 to 2014, we expanded our footprint to Beijing and Shenzhen and completed the construction of three data centers in these markets. By 2014, we had developed a supply of capacity in all of mainland China’s Tier 1 markets.

In 2014, we received a major infusion of capital to fund data center development from STT GDC. We have since established a long-term strategic partnership with STT GDC, which has made several subsequent rounds of investment in us. STT GDC is an indirect subsidiary of Singapore Technologies Telemedia Pte Ltd. STT GDC is an experienced and strategic data center player which owns a portfolio of data centers in Singapore, UK, Thailand, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Japan and in China through GDS. We benefit from STT GDC’s industry expertise, access to potential customer and supplier relationships, and solid corporate governance guidance. On May 29, 2024, STT G