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Hong Kong’s data-centre market was expanding before its headline AI project arrived: government figures put floor area at about 970,000 square metres in 2024, while Sandy Ridge is planned to add 250,000 square metres of gross floor area and target 180,000 PFLOPS by 2032. But those figures describe different things and dates. The 2026 market total remains unverified in the official material available here, and Sandy Ridge’s capacity, investment and jobs are project commitments and estimates, not delivered results.
How big is Hong Kong’s data-centre market?
The clearest official baseline is a Hong Kong Government reply to the Legislative Council in June 2024. It reported about 800,000 square metres of data-centre floor area in 2022 and about 970,000 square metres at the time of the reply. The Government forecast total floor area of 1.5 million square metres by 2026. That last figure was a forecast, not a later measurement: the official materials cited here do not confirm whether Hong Kong reached it.
The same 2024 reply reported approximately 300,000 square metres of short-to-medium-term demand indicated by an operator survey conducted in 2023. Surveyed demand is not the same as occupied space, construction underway or capacity already available.
| Measure | Figure | What it represents |
|---|---|---|
| Data-centre floor area in 2022 | 800,000 square metres | Office of the Government Chief Information Officer figure reported in the Government’s June 2024 Legislative Council reply. |
| Data-centre floor area in 2024 | About 970,000 square metres | Government estimate at the time of its June 2024 reply. |
| Short-to-medium-term demand | About 300,000 square metres | Indicated by an operator survey conducted in 2023, as reported by the Government in June 2024. |
| Estimated total floor area by 2026 | 1.5 million square metres | Government forecast made in June 2024; achievement is not verified by the official materials cited here. |
These figures measure floor area, not computing power or electricity use. Nor do they establish a current operator-by-operator inventory, utilization rate or comparable list of private-sector investment plans. A growing property footprint is evidence of expansion, but it is not by itself a measure of how much AI computing Hong Kong can deliver.
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What is being built at Sandy Ridge?
Sandy Ridge, in the Northern Metropolis, is the most prominent planned addition in the government announcements covered here. In March 2026, the site was awarded to Hong Kong Range Intelligent Computing Technology Company Limited on a 50-year land grant. One tender was received. The assessment weighted the non-premium proposal at 70 percent and the premium proposal at 30 percent; the successful tender included a HK$581 million land premium.
Project scale and targets
The successful tenderer proposed 250,000 square metres of gross floor area, with 88 percent planned for high-tier data-centre use. The proposal targets 180,000 PFLOPS by 2032; the Government described that target as 36 times Hong Kong’s current computing power. PFLOPS expresses computing performance in quadrillions of floating-point operations per second. The figure is a future target, not operating capacity today.
The Government’s April 2026 Legislative Council reply said operations were expected in 2029. It also said the operator would decide how to allocate computing power according to its business plan and market demand. The public announcement therefore gives a scale and target, but does not establish who will use the capacity, how much will be available to outside customers, or the eventual utilization rate.
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Investment and economic estimates
The successful tenderer estimated cumulative investment of HK$23.8 billion through development and the first three years of operation. It also estimated HK$4.6 billion in economic output and around 180 skilled positions over those first three operating years. These are the tenderer’s estimates reported by the Government, not audited outcomes or guaranteed employment figures.
The project announcement frames Sandy Ridge as support for AI development, digital infrastructure and cross-boundary data flows. An ITIB spokesperson said the facility cluster would provide data and computing power and contribute to Hong Kong’s digital economy and the national “AI+” initiative. That is the Government’s policy rationale, not an independent assessment of the project’s eventual market impact.
Why are data centres expanding in Hong Kong?
Hong Kong’s supply is developing through more than one route. New government land can support large purpose-built facilities, while industrial-building conversions, redevelopment and private-market premises can add capacity within the existing urban fabric. The Government’s June 2024 reply said 44 industrial-building conversion waiver applications and five industrial-lot lease modifications had been approved by mid-May 2024. It estimated these approvals would provide about 300,000 square metres in total, including more than 240,000 square metres for high-tier data-centre use.
| Development route | What it can add | Evidence and qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Industrial-building conversion or redevelopment | Data-centre space adapted from existing industrial sites. | By mid-May 2024, the Government reported 44 approved conversion waivers and five approved industrial-lot lease modifications; its estimated combined provision was about 300,000 square metres, including more than 240,000 square metres for high-tier use. |
| Government land | Purpose-built capacity on sites offered for data-centre development. | Sandy Ridge is a 2026 example: a 50-year land grant to one successful tenderer, with proposed rather than completed floor area and compute capacity. |
| Private-market premises | Facilities in properties supplied through the market. | The Government identifies this as part of the supply mix, but the materials cited here do not provide a complete inventory or comparable capacity totals for private operators. |
Government incentives include fee exemptions for eligible conversion waivers, premium-assessment arrangements for high-tier data-centre use and plot-ratio relaxation for eligible older industrial buildings. These measures are intended to make sites more usable for data-centre development; eligibility and approvals remain site-specific.
The Government’s investment-promotion case also points to Hong Kong’s role in finance, trade and logistics, telecommunications links, proximity to the Mainland, data-protection framework, talent pool and public-sector facilitation. Those are the Government’s stated location advantages, not a neutral comparison proving Hong Kong is cheaper or better than every competing market.
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Will Hong Kong have enough power for AI data centres?
The available official material does not answer this with a sector-wide load forecast. It does not quantify current data-centre electricity demand, grid capacity reserved for the industry, or facility-level emissions. The Digital Policy Office’s July 2026 fact sheet reports electricity-supply reliability above 99.999 percent and describes Hong Kong’s electricity tariff as relatively low compared with other Asia-Pacific cities. Those are Government-published general claims, not a guarantee for a particular site, an independent tariff comparison or proof that future AI loads can be served without additional infrastructure.
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Site-level power and cooling
The Government’s data-centre FAQ explains that zoning determines which uses are permitted and that a project may require planning permission, lease modification or waiver, and building-plan approval. It says a Tier 4 dual-feed arrangement may draw from separate substations belonging to the same power company. Seawater cooling is considered case by case, depending on a site’s location and topography. These details illustrate why power resilience and cooling options cannot be inferred from a territory-wide reliability statistic alone.
Clean-energy plans
In its 2026 reply, the Government said it planned to enhance the Clean Energy Transmission System by the end of 2026 so Hong Kong could gradually import more zero-carbon energy, as part of a longer-term goal for net-zero electricity generation. This was a plan and transition pathway, not confirmation that the enhancement had been completed or that data centres already run on zero-carbon electricity.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How do connectivity and cross-boundary data rules fit in?
The Digital Policy Office says high-speed fibre connectivity is available to data centres across the territory, with providers to choose from. The Government also identifies telecommunications links and proximity to the Mainland as parts of Hong Kong’s digital-infrastructure proposition. These features matter to operators that need to connect users, businesses and systems across locations, but the official statements do not quantify comparative latency or service performance for individual facilities.
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For some regional data exchange, the Government describes the Greater Bay Area standard contract for cross-boundary personal-information flows, promulgated in December 2023, as a voluntary facilitation measure. It is not a blanket exemption from privacy law or other legal requirements. Whether it is relevant to a particular data transfer depends on the parties, information and applicable rules.
What the boom figures do—and do not—show
The evidence supports a story of policy-enabled expansion: industrial-building rules are being used to unlock space, the Government is offering land for new development, and Sandy Ridge sets out a large AI-compute ambition. It does not yet support treating announced area, investment or processing power as already operating capacity.
- Measured baseline: The 970,000-square-metre figure is a Government estimate for 2024, not a confirmed 2026 total.
- Forecast: The 1.5-million-square-metre estimate was made in 2024 for 2026; the materials cited here do not verify the result.
- Project commitment: Sandy Ridge’s floor area, investment, jobs and 2032 compute target are proposal figures or targets subject to delivery.
- Unresolved market picture: The available official materials do not provide a current operator-by-operator capacity map, utilization figures, sector electricity demand or facility emissions.
For investors and businesses assessing Hong Kong’s digital infrastructure, the distinction is material: planned capacity can signal direction and policy support, but it should not be substituted for evidence of completed facilities, customer demand, power consumption or realized returns.
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