Company: GDHLF
Filing Date: 2025-05-27
Form Type: 424B5
Source: 0001104659-25-053058
Chunk: 3

Company: GDS Holdings Ltd
Filing Date: 2025-05-27
Form: 424B5
Chunk 3
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 ADSs more than one business day prior to , 2025 will be required, by virtue of the fact that the ADSs settle on T+2 to specify an alternate settlement arrangement at the time of any such trade to prevent a failed settlement. Purchasers of the ADSs who wish to trade the ADSs during such period should consult their advisors.

Investing in the ADSs involves a high degree of risk. See the “Risk Factors” beginning on page S-18of this prospectus supplement.

GDS Holdings Limited is not an operating company in mainland China, but instead is a Cayman Islands holding company. PRC laws and regulations impose certain restrictions or prohibitions on foreign ownership of companies that engage in telecommunications-related businesses, including the provision of value-added telecommunications services, or VATS. Our internet data center businesses are classified as VATS by the PRC government. Accordingly, we operate substantially all of these business operations in mainland China through the consolidated variable interest entities, or VIEs, and their subsidiaries, as well as through our subsidiaries, and rely on contractual arrangements to control the business operations of the consolidated VIEs. GDS Holdings Limited has no equity ownership in the consolidated VIEs. As used in this prospectus supplement, “GDS,” “our company,” “the Company,” “we,” “our” or “us” refers to GDS Holdings Limited, a company incorporated in the Cayman Islands with limited liability on December 1, 2006 and, where the context requires, its consolidated subsidiaries and the consolidated affiliated entities, including the VIEs and their subsidiaries, from time to time. Investors in the ADSs are not purchasing an equity interest in the consolidated VIEs and their subsidiaries in mainland China, but instead are purchasing an equity interest in a Cayman Islands holding company and its subsidiaries (excluding the VIEs and their subsidiaries).

Our corporate structure is subject to risks associated with our contractual arrangements with the consolidated VIEs. These contractual arrangements may not be as effective as direct ownership in providing us with control over the consolidated VIEs and we may have to incur substantial costs and expend significant resources to enforce such arrangements in reliance on legal remedies under PRC law. The enforceability of the agreements under the contractual arrangements has not been tested in a court of law. There are also uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of current and future PRC laws, regulations and rules regarding the status of the rights of our Cayman Islands holding company with respect to the contractual arrangements. If our corporate