Without sufficient land supply, can Hong Kong maintain its status as a data centre hub?
- Singapore ranks ahead of South Korea and Hong Kong as the top location for data centre operations, according to Cushman and Wakefield
- Land shortfall in Hong Kong for specialised industrial use to reach 17.4 hectares by 2041, says study
Land scarcity is a major threat to Hong Kong’s booming data centre industry and its status as a regional hub, according to Sunevision Holdings, the technology arm of Sun Hung Kai Properties.
The city’s data centre market is projected to increase from US$705.5 million in 2016 to US$1.5 billion in 2021, a five-year compound annual growth rate of 16 per cent, according to Structure Research, an independent research and consulting firm focusing on the internet infrastructure – cloud and data centres – market.
But Raymond Tong Kwok-kong, chief executive of Sunevision, the biggest data centre landlord in Hong Kong, said that a shortage of land could significantly impact the scalability, sustainability and cost-effectiveness of a data centre provider as well as the whole industry in the long run.
Sunevision owns five data centres, giving it an 18 per cent market share – the highest in Hong Kong, according to Colliers.
His fears are not misplaced: a study commissioned by the Planning Department in January 2017 showed that there is likely to be a land shortfall of 17.4 hectares for specialised industrial use, such as science parks and R&D facilities of information technology companies, up to 2041.
