TES Announces New Facility Details
As part of its ongoing strategy to take advantage of the shift towards cloud computing, TES, a renowned provider for global ITAD services, is opening a new establishment in Virginia which will specialize in the decommissioning of hyperscale data centers.
“There’s just a general shift in technology, and this is really positioning us to be ready for that shift and take advantage of it,” TES Americas general manager, Bill Vasquez, reported to E-Scrap News.
“We feel we’re well positioned as the global leader for ITAD in general, so it’s a natural extension to bring these additional services to our clients and service them well,” he added.
On July 31st, TES declared that it would be constructing a 128,000-square-foot facility in Fredericksburg, Virginia to process electronics from hyperscale data centers. According to Vasquez, the building will be erected within a preexisting structure, located around four miles away from its current ITAD site. When the new plant is open, its original ITAD facility will likely cease operations.
Located with plenty of dock doors and a spacious design, this facility is designed to handle a large amount of weight. It will specialize in harvesting components from hyperscale data centers while also providing corporate ITAD services. He noted that it will be capable of efficiently bringing in hundreds of racks filled with computer equipment at one time.
An Ideal Location
Siting the new plant in an area full of data centers works to TES’ advantage, as there are ample electrical services available for large batch drive wiping. “That kind of worked in our favor,” he said.
By 2024, the new plant, which will focus on reuse, is scheduled to be operational. It is anticipated to rely heavily on its downstream partners for recycling large amounts of end-of-life electronics, according to him.
TES also revealed that a major investment was being made into the upcoming venture but did not provide an exact cost. Vasquez declined to state how much money had been committed, only implying that it was a “significant multimillion-dollar investment” and a “substantial financial commitment,” in a press release.
Prior to his onboarding at TES this year, Vasquez had been employed for close to three years at ITRenew, a data center decommissioning and ITAD services company, up until early 2022 when Iron Mountain acquired the firm for $718 million. Previous to that role, Vasquez was employed by Sims Recycling Solutions (renamed Sims Lifecycle Services).
It was last year that the South Korean conglomerate, SK Ecoplant, acquired TES in a massive deal worth $1 billion. TES owns over 40 locations worldwide, including its newest U.S. site which opened its doors this year in Las Vegas.
Vast Capabilities Anticipated
Eric Ingbretsen, the chief commercial officer at TES, highlighted the anticipated production capacity of the facility. He was quoted as saying “Processing 5,000 drives at a time is one thing; being able to process 100,000 drives at a time is something entirely different.” The primary purpose of the facility will be to produce devices on a hyperscale level.
In the press release, Keith Layton, the vice president of hyperscale remarketing at TES, commented on the highly unpredictable environment for used electronics. This sentiment was also echoed within Iron Mountain’s recent earnings releases which noted a rise of units sold, but prices per item declining.
“In my 27 years of secondary market IT resell, I have never experienced the volatility that we have today,” Layton stated. “With a true global presence, TES is uniquely positioned to weather the storm, grow throughout the U.S. hyperscale market, and provide world-class services to our global customers.”
Vasquez highlighted that the presence of TES in various countries has enabled it to serve one customer across multiple regions. In addition, its worldwide sales channels have allowed the firm to dodge any market and trading difficulties caused by a particular region.
