The Hosting Services business is expected to provide up to 1,200 cabinets of server space at an average power allocation of 6KVa per cabinet. The Hosting Services will be available to Exchange Participants as well as information and technology vendors. HKEx will provide support for telecommunications neutral connectivity from major carriers.

"As we have stated throughout this year, HKEx is committed to investing in our information technology infrastructure as well as improving our market structure to make Hong Kong even more globally competitive as a financial centre. The NGDC and the launch of our Hosting Services business are critical elements of this strategy," HKEx Chief Executive Charles Li said.

"The offering of Hosting Services is in line with the latest global exchange industry trends. Market feedback has also indicated strong desire for value-added hosting services. We are confident that our participants and other constituents will see the benefits of the endeavour," he added.

The business setup and implementation will cost approximately $750 million over the next three years. HKEx plans to fund the project with internal resources.

As a result of integrating the Hosting Services business in the NGDC, an additional three months will be added to the data centre project timetable. HKEx aims to move the primary data centre for its securities market to the NGDC in the fourth quarter of 2012.