Hong Kong data centre investments pick up after Google's abandoned project
Data centre services leader increases its capital spending in city to US$150 million, providing a confidence boost after Google's ditched plan
Equinix, the world's largest provider of data centre services, says its total capital expenditure in Hong Kong has now reached about US$150 million, following the US$23 million expansion of its latest facility in Tsuen Wan.
That project capped a month of big data centre announcements in the city, which was sent reeling by internet giant Google last December after reports confirmed that the company scrapped its plan to build a US$300 million data centre complex in Tseung Kwan O.
"With Hong Kong continuing to grow as a regional hub for multinational companies, demand from enterprises and financial services firms for interconnected data-centre services continues to rise," Alex Tam Wing-yiu, the managing director for Hong Kong at California-based Equinix, said yesterday.
Other large service providers share that view based on their recent projects. China Unicom Hong Kong, the biggest overseas subsidiary of the mainland's No2 mobile network operator, announced last week a US$3 billion investment on an integrated telecommunications facility, including an internet data centre, in Tseung Kwan O. This site will launch in the first half of 2016.
SoftLayer, the internet infrastructure services arm of IBM, opened a new facility in the same district this month, part of a US$1.2 billion data centre build-out in key financial centres.
HGC GlobalCentre, a joint venture between Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong and Cheung Kong (Holdings), also opened this month a new site in Kwai Chung for an undisclosed amount.