Equinix, Inc. has announced its plans to further expand its footprint in Hong Kong. It will invest over $40 million to build the third phase of its second International Business Exchange ™ (IBX^®) data center (HK2). It will also build the ninth phase of its first data center (HK1). The new facilities will meet strong demand from cloud and content and digital media (CDM) companies for data center and interconnection services in Hong Kong.

Located in the western part of Hong Kong, the third phase of HK2 will provide space for an additional 900 cabinets, bringing the total capacity of the data center to 2,350 cabinets. It is slated to open in Q4, 2015, in conjunction with the additional phase of HK1-IX, which will add 275 cabinets.

"With the strong momentum of cloud and content companies deploying in Hong Kong, as well as data center services demand from worldwide customers including many in China, it was a clear strategic business decision to expand our presence in Hong Kong. The investment in HK1 and HK2 further positions Hong Kong as an important regional hub, not only for financial services firms but for cloud and content companies as well,"said Alex Tam, managing director, Equinix Hong Kong.

The expansion of HK1 and HK2 will enable businesses to better address the huge consumer appetite for online media and video content. In Hong Kong alone, 79% of the population is active on the internet, with 66% active on social media and 64% mobile internet users¹. Given this high penetration, content and digital media companies are deploying in Equinix's Hong Kong data centers at a rapid rate to be in closer proximity to end users and lower network latency to provide an optimal end-user experience.

Equinix Hong Kong's content and digital media customer base grew 16% year-over-year in 2014. Content companies such as ChinaCache, Casale Media and MediaMath are deploying with Equinix Hong Kong to access its network-dense ecosystem of more than 1,000 networks, carriers, mobile providers and internet service providers (ISPs), such as China Unicom. Content companies are also deploying with Equinix to develop agile, hybrid cloud environments with access to multiple clouds including Microsoft Azure, AWS and Google Cloud Platform and networks via Equinix Cloud Exchange.

Equinix's cloud and IT ecosystem also continues to gain momentum in Hong Kong, as local and international internet security and cloud service providers (CSPs) are increasingly choosing to deploy with Equinix Hong Kong as an entry point into Asia-Pacific. With IDC predicting the cloud market to grow 23% in 2015, driven by rising interests from enterprises², internet security, network and cloud service providers such as Macroview, Microware, Netswitch, Nexusguard and OneAsia are turning to Equinix Hong Kong to connect with an established ecosystem of over 6,300 potential customers and partners.

The expansion of Equinix's footprint in Hong Kong is the latest in a series of expansions across Asia-Pacific to meet the rising demand for interconnection services. Most recently in March 2015, Equinix opened its third Singapore data center (SG3) and its first data center in Melbourne (ME1) in December 2014.

¹Digital, Social, and Mobile in APAC 2015 Report, Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Singapore, March 2015
² Hybrid cloud adoption set for a big boost in 2015, Computerworld, December 2014