VNET vs CCOI Comparison

VNET started as AsiaCloud in 1999 and moved to the data center business with its first self-developed data center opening in 2010. The firm listed (as 21Vianet) on the Nasdaq in April 2011, subsequently changing its name to VNET Group in 2021. It originally focused on providing data center services such as colocation and cloud services to retail clients in China, but added hyperscale customers in 2019 and now counts large Chinese hyperscalers such as Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud, and Huawei Cloud as customers. At the end of June 2025, it had 51,960 retail cabinets with the majority in Beijing, Shanghai, and the Greater Bay area. It also had 674 MW of wholesale capacity in service with a further 326 MW under construction and a further 792 MW held for future development.

Cogent carries over one-fifth of the world's internet traffic on its network, providing high-capacity services to businesses. Cogent's corporate customers are in high-rise office buildings, where the firm provides two types of connections: dedicated internet access, which connects them to the internet, and virtual private networking, which offers an internal network for employees in different locations. Cogent's corporate customers are exclusively in North America and account for nearly half of the firm's revenue. Cogent's netcentric customers include internet service providers and content providers, to which Cogent provides internet transit. They hand traffic to Cogent in data centers and rely on Cogent to deliver it. About half of netcentric revenue is from outside the US.