China AI Boom Drives Hong Kong Data Center Rents to Nearly Double Within the Year
Claire Weston
ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent are flooding into Hong Kong's data center market, driving wholesale rents from roughly $95 per kW at the start of the year to as high as $180 — a jump of about 90% that is turning the city into a compute gateway for Chinese AI's overseas push.
Rents nearly doubled — who is signing the leases?
Hong Kong wholesale data center rents have climbed from around $95/kW at the start of the year to a current peak of $180/kW — roughly 90% higher, according to Structure Research.
Over recent months, 90% of Hong Kong data center leasing deals came from Chinese firms; only 10% from Western companies. This means → Hong Kong's data center market is now almost entirely a Chinese story.
The driving force is AI inference deployment — running trained AI models to serve real users — which demands far more compute than traditional cloud services did.
Why Hong Kong, not mainland China?
Compared with the mainland's controlled internet environment, Hong Kong offers two decisive advantages: free data flows and direct access to international markets.
DeepSeek's success accelerated the trend: more Chinese firms now treat Hong Kong as a "testing ground" for AI models and international competitiveness, then use it as a springboard for broader overseas expansion.
In plain terms = Hong Kong is Chinese AI's first stop on the way out — close enough to the mainland, but plugged into the global internet.
How are operators keeping up with this wave?
Three major operators — SUNeVision (新意网), DayOne Data Centers, and Equinix — are all racing to expand, having raised billions of dollars in debt financing.
Equinix recently opened a new Hong Kong facility costing HK$1 billion (about $127 million), serving both financial-services and tech clients.
This reflects a clear bet by operators: this is structural demand, not a short-term spike.
Will AI crowd out financial demand?
Equinix senior director Simon Lockington noted Hong Kong's proximity to Singapore and Tokyo, adding that "the momentum and sheer volume of Hong Kong as a financial center should not be overlooked."
Clifford Chance partner Dauwood Malik emphasized that traditional financial institutions remain a major source of demand for Hong Kong's digital infrastructure, with the rise of algorithmic trading further pushing compute needs.
In plain terms = AI and finance are not competing for the same seat — both are expanding, and together they are propping up rents.
Compared with Singapore, is Hong Kong still cheap?
Despite the sharp rise, Hong Kong's $180/kW wholesale price remains well below Singapore's $300–$490 range.
This means → for cost-sensitive tenants, Hong Kong still holds a clear price advantage — especially for Chinese firms that need an Asia-Pacific node but have tighter budgets.
Whether this price gap continues to narrow will be the key variable in gauging the next phase of Hong Kong's data center market.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.