Google has trashed its plan to build a data center in Hong Kong, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.
Taj Meadows, Asia-Pacific policy communications manager at Google was quoted by the media report as saying that cost and the difficulty in acquiring spacious land in Hong Kong hinder the facility build-out.
“While we see tremendous opportunity and potential in Hong Kong…we will not be moving ahead with this project,” he told WSJ.
However, the firm had already acquired a data center site in the Tsueng Kwan O area when announcing its $100 million Hong Kong data center plan in September 2011.
The site has been left untouched since the firm’s announcement and recently drew much local media attention and speculation.
Meadows declined to comment whether Hong Kong being a Chinese SAR might be a reason for the decision, the report adds. Google has faced challenges in its China expansion after a censorship dispute with the mainland government in 2010.
The firm has no plans to scale back is Hong Kong operations despite the decision, the report quotes Meadows as saying, adding that it will expand the data centers in Singapore and Taiwan.