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Hong Kong is changing planning terms and offering to waive fees for certain types of commercial buildings being converted to data center use. It also wants more high tier data centers to be built on existing industrial lots.

The moves are part of efforts to encourage greater investment and stimulate the economy.

The government of Hong Kong said it will exempt the waiver fee for changing parts of industrial buildings aged 15 years or above into data centre use. The exemption will be applicable to data centres of all tiers. The other measure concerns the development of high-tier data centres involving lease modification on industrial lots, regarding which the Government will assess the premium for lease modification on the basis of actual development intensity and high-tier data centre use instead of optimal use.
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Gregory So said: "We believe the new measures can encourage more conversion of industrial buildings for data centre use. Data centers - the essential infrastructure in a knowledge-based economy - are crucial to the long-term growth of Hong Kong's economy.
Major economic sectors, particularly the pillar industries such as financial services, trade and logistics, and the emerging cloud computing and media businesses, rely on them very much.
"A consultancy study has concluded that there is potential for strong growth in the demand for data centres in Hong Kong in the coming years. Data centres are also much sought after by our regional competitors as they are usually co-located with regional headquarters. To cope with such growth and trends, we need to meet the demand for data centre development quickly, especially the unique and demanding requirements for suitable sites, lest these high value-added facilities will resort to other locations," he said.