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Australia’s AirTrunk launches Hong Kong data centre as it looks to tap demand for cloud computing services

  • AirTrunk has signed a 10-year lease for an industrial building in Tsing Yi housing its operations, leasing servers to major cloud services providers
  • Operator has seen a record number of customers this year as companies switch to cloud computing amid pandemic, CEO Khuda says

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Australian data centre operator AirTrunk has opened its first Hong Kong facility in Tsing Yi. Photo: Handout
Pearl Liu

Australian data centre operator AirTrunk opened its first facility in Hong Kong on Wednesday, with the launch coinciding with a shift by many companies to cloud computing to enhance online user experience or facilitate seamless remote working amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

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The carrier-neutral data centre operator has signed a 10-year lease for an eight-storey industrial building in Tsing Yi with 17,400 square metres (187,292 square feet) of gross floor space. AirTrunk did not disclose the rent for the building, but property agents said it could be around HK$4.2 million (US$542,000) a month based on market rates.

“We have had a record year in terms of the number of leases signed,” said Robin Khuda, founder and CEO of Sydney-based AirTrunk.

Before the pandemic, a lot of companies were on the fence on whether to move to cloud computing as “Covid-19 left them no choice but to move from in-house to cloud as many companies are now in remote working mode,” he added.

The Asia-Pacific data centre market is predicted to grow 12 per cent over the next four years to reach a value of US$28 billion. Photo: Shutterstock Images
The Asia-Pacific data centre market is predicted to grow 12 per cent over the next four years to reach a value of US$28 billion. Photo: Shutterstock Images
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Hong Kong, which is battling its fourth coronavirus wave, has once again seen many companies asking their employees to work from home, while the government sent its nearly 180,000 civil servants on similar regime. In the past month, some of the city’s biggest employers, such as Standard Chartered and HSBC, said they were considering ways to digitise more of its operations and having more flexible working arrangements, such as time split between offices, at home or co-working facilities.

The demand for data centres and its growth potential has caught the attention of both investors as well as landlords who were now willing to convert their properties for such operations.
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