The balance is shifting in Asia's data center race: Singapore and Malaysia are advancing, why is Hong Kong falling behind?

Hong Kong has fallen out of Asia-Pacific’s top 10 data center markets this year, after ranking as the world’s fourth-best market in 2023, as Singapore and Malaysia advance in the region’s AI data center race. The decline is attributed to US restrictions on advanced chip exports, high costs, limited land and inadequate power infrastructure, which have eroded the city’s competitiveness. The shift matters because data center capacity is increasingly tied to AI investment and cloud expansion across the region. What to watch next is whether Hong Kong can ease power and land constraints and whether US export controls continue to weigh on its ability to attract AI workloads.