Google will invest over $200m to build data centres in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, the Search engine company’s first data centres in Asia.
According to Bloomberg, Google has already acquired land in the three South-east Asia countries. The company told Blomberg that the data centres in Hong Kong and Taiwan are expected to cost over $100m each.
The move is a part of Google’s wider strategy to expand its presence in Asia. At present, Google leases data centres in Asia to offer services in the region.
The search engine company has a growing user base in several Asian countries including China and India, where the company’s services such as search, e-mail and online maps are popular. Google’s Android is also widely used in Asia, with most Asian smartphone makers using the mobile-phone operating system.
The operation of the Asian facilities are expected to begin one to two years after construction begins, said the company.
Meanwhile, The New York Times has reported that the next great expansion of the world’s digital infrastructure is under way in developing markets such as China, Brazil and Argentina.
Citing a global census of the industry by London-based DatacenterDynamics, NYT said that despite growing concerns of a global economic slowdown, data centre builders expect growth next year to match levels last seen in the world economy’s boom years: about 19%.
DatacenterDynamics said energy concerns were driving data centre builders to design more efficient data centres.
