Market Trends of Hong Kong Data Center Cooling Industry
IT and Telecom to Hold Significant Share
- Hong Kong has long been acknowledged as one of the world's top cities for fixed broadband performance. The country's fixed line and mobile service penetration rates are among the highest in the world, and broadband infrastructure is widely used.
- In FY 2023, Hong Kong's government spent HKD 14.2 billion (USD 1.82 billion) on information communication technology, marking a slight increase from the prior year. In 2023, this ICT expenditure constituted 1.7% of the government's public spending and accounted for 0.5% of Hong Kong's GDP.
- Hong Kong's fixed-line tele density is remarkable at over 50%. However, as people gradually switch to the mobile platform for all their communication needs, the data is increasing exponentially, leading to major demand for servers and equipment, thereby increasing the demand for cooling solutions.
- Such factors are leading to the usage of 5G services. With 5G being introduced in the country, high bandwidth speeds led to users opting for multiple smart devices, such as smart wearables, tablets, security systems, smart lighting, and others, which have catalyzed the demand for these devices.
- Around 96% of the population in Hong Kong currently uses smartphones to access the internet on a daily basis. This has led to major data traffic, increasing the telecom data centers' use of cooling solutions.
Understand The Key Trends Shaping This Market
Download PDF
Liquid Cooling to Register Significant Growth
- In the ever-evolving landscape of data centers, efficient cooling solutions are crucial to maintain optimal performance and handle the increasing heat loads generated by modern IT equipment. Among the emerging technologies, liquid cooling systems have gained significant traction in recent years.
- Air cooling is insufficient to sustain the dependability of IT systems in facilities with exceptionally high-density racks (usually over 30 kW), regardless of how new or optimized they may be.
- Liquid cooling is not an option but rather a must for such facilities (rack power requirements are approaching 20 kW in many facilities, and many companies are aiming to build racks with requirements of 50 kW or more). Goodman Tsuen Wan West Campus ( 2 buildings) of Goodman and Mega IDC facility of SUNeVision are the under-construction facilities with high rack densities.
- To meet its 2025 carbon emissions reduction target, OneAsia, an Asian IT service provider for cloud-based solutions and data center services, stated that it will introduce an 'immersion cooling' solution in September 2023 in Hong Kong.
- High-tier data centers may consider adopting water-cooled air-conditioning systems, which are more energy-efficient than an air-cooled system, for data center cooling purposes. In Hong Kong, the authority of approval for fresh water supply for cooling purposes for non-domestic buildings within designated areas under the government's voluntary Fresh Water Cooling Towers (FWCT) Scheme for Air Conditioning Systems administered by the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) falls under the Water Supplies Department (WSD).
- It is expected that with the rising demand for high-density computing applications, traditional air-cooled units will now be replaced by liquid-cooling units. Furthermore, cloud storage use has expanded over the years and is likely to raise demand for liquid data center cooling systems. For instance, 75% of the businesses in Hong Kong have adopted cloud services as they offer more flexibility and cost-effectiveness. Also, under the Smart City Blueprint program, government departments have been using cloud platforms since 2020.
