Global colocation services provider Equinix launched the first phase of its second data center in Hong Kong. The company is investing a total of US$63m in the HK2 facility, which extends its total global inventory to 99 data centers.

The new facility is located near the Equinix’s first Hong Kong data center in the western part of the island’s New Territories region. Phase I, a $20m investment, will provide space for 450 IT cabinets.

At full build-out, the facility will accommodate up to 1,450 cabinets, Equinix said. Alex Tam, managing director for Equinix Greater China, said demand in the Hong Kong data center market was driven by the island’s continued dominance as one of Asia’s financial hubs and the market’s commercial growth.

“Data centers are an essential part of the city’s infrastructure and the opening of HK2 ensures the supply of data center availability needed to support the sustainable growth of traditional pillar industries such as financial services and trading,” Tam said.

Hong Kong has “world-leading” broadband penetration and strong international connectivity, according to Equinix. This makes it also a good market for Cloud-based services, providers of which Equinix is also going after. HK2 is the third data center Equinix opened in Asia-Pacific this year.

Earlier this year, the provider launched its third data center in Sydney and its third data center in Tokyo. Related Stories Group of banks to lend Equinix $170M to finance Asia-Pacific operation Equinix brings online second Singapore facility Equinix names Melbourne and Osaka as priorities at launch of Sydney data center