Digital Realty Kicks Off Work on Second Hong Kong Data Centre

US-based data centre REIT Digital Realty announced late last week that it will start development of its second data centre in Hong Kong as the 16-year-old company expands its footprint in Asia Pacific.

The company expects the carrier neutral facility, named Digital Realty Kin Chuen or HKG11, to deliver up to 24 megawatts of IT capacity, or enough to power nearly 100,000 servers, when it is completed in mid-2021, according to a statement from the San Francisco-based firm.

Digital Realty, which operates 275 data centres across 21 countries globally, has been ramping up its presence in Asia Pacific as the rapid development of 5G networks and growth in use of cloud-based services helps to drive expansion of server facilities in the region.

Hong Kong as Digital Gateway

“As we continue to expand in Asia, the launch of our second facility in Hong Kong underscores its importance as a major data hub, providing customers with the coverage, capacity and connectivity requirements to support their digital ambitions,” Digital Realty CEO A William Stein said in a statement.

In written comments to Mingtiandi, a Digital Realty spokesperson said that the company anticipates commencing pre-leasing of the 21,000 square metre (226,000 square foot) facility in early 2021, and is already experiencing strong demand from both global and regional customers for the project, which is expected to be completed in the middle of next year.

The company indicated that its existing Digital TKO data centre is already approaching its load capacity, and that it expects strong demand from Chinese technology firms looking to benefit from Hong Kong’s position as a gateway to Asia Pacific, as well as from global firms targetting the Greater China region.

Building Out an APAC Presence

Stein referred to the establishment of the purpose-built facility in the Kwai Chung area, which comes eight years after Digital Realty entered Hong Kong by acquiring an existing data centre in Tseung Kwan O, as the latest milestone in the company’s global platform roadmap.

Just last month the company broke ground on its first data centre project in South Korea, aiming to build a 12 megawatt facility on a 22,000 square foot site in northwest Seoul’s Sangam Digital Media City.

During October of last year the data centre specialist had laid out plans for the India market, signing a memorandum of understanding with local conglomerate Adani Group to jointly assess the feasibility of developing data centres and related infrastructure on the sub-continent.