DCD>Converged HK 2018

1. Keeping Hong Kong's
Competitiveness As a
Global Data Center
Destination
Charles Mok
Legislative Councillor (IT)
@ DCD Converged 2018-11-15

2. Growing demand for shared/colocation
data centers in Hong Kong:
digital gateway into and out of China
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3. Asia Pacific’s data centre
market is increasing
significantly and even
surpassing the European
market by 2021
…investment in data centres
will leapfrog
source: Data Center Risk Index report, Cushman & Wakefield
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4. 4
Source: Cushman & Wakefield’s Data Center Risk Index

5. 5
Important factors:
energy supply
internet bandwidth
ease of doing business
political stability
natural disaster
energy stability

6. How long can
Hong Kong stay
ahead as primary
destination for
datacenter
deployment in APAC?
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7. HK$5.8bn
(US$744m)
Value of Hong Kong’s colocation and
wholesale data center market in 2017
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16% growth from 2016
Source: 451 Research (5th “Multi-tenant Datacenter Market” report, Feb 2018)

8. S$1.06bn
(US$739m)
Value of Singapore’s colocation and
wholesale data center market in 2017
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Source: 451 Research (5th “Multi-tenant Datacenter Market” report, Feb 2018)

9. What about the year ahead?
Singapore’s data center
revenue is expected to
surpass Hong Kong’s by
the end of 2019

10. Fierce competition from
cities in mainland
China, such as
Guangzhou, Shenzhen
and Shanghai
What about the year ahead?

11. Major hurdle: land supply
scarcity of large land plots for
further DC development
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12. 12
2018
Govt released a
2.74ha site in TKO
for bids due by early
Dec 2018.
- floor area of 1m sq.
ft, potential total
capacity of up to 200
MW.
2012
HK government set
aside 3 sites in
Tseung Kwan O
for high-tier data
centre use
Oct 2013
First site was sold
(Takes 4 years from
land sale to
completion of the
data center)
Land supply for data centres in HK:
serious delay due to difficulty in site clearance

13. Better coordination & streamline procedures needed
to increase conversion of existing industrial
buildings to data centres
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Long term planning: Identify more land supply for
high-tier DC development in new development areas

14. Fee waiver for using industrial
buildings for data center: effective?
◂ To encourage existing industrial buildings to
change their use to data centres, the fees for
issuing waivers for using industrial buildings
aged 15 years+ for DCs were waived.
◂ From 2012 to 2018: total of less than 40
applications were made to Lands Department
◂ Needs to expedite the processing of
applications and improve communication
internally (OGCIO and District Lands Offices in
LandsD)
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15. Need to promote lease modifications
of industrial lots for data centre use
◂ Government accepts lease modification
(including land exchange) tailor-made for
development of high-tier data centres on
existing industrial lots for the part of the
development proposed for data centre use
◂ Less than 5 applications from 2012-2017
◂ Policy incentives needs more promotion
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16. Thank you
charlesmok@charlesmok.hk
follow on LinkedIn/Twitter: @charlesmok
Subscribe: www.charlesmok.hk
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