Hong Kong telecommunications group HKT has opened an Innovation & Technology Centre and AI Exchange at the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park, adding a network hub intended to connect artificial intelligence users with computing capacity across the city’s major data-center clusters.
The facility, located in Building 8 of the park in the Lok Ma Chau Loop, was formally inaugurated on October 28, according to an HKT announcement. It houses the AI Exchange as well as a joint research and development laboratory established by HKT and the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute.
Facility connects to major data-center clusters
HKT said the AI Exchange will link customers to major data-center clusters in Hong Kong through its 3.2-terabit-per-second AI Data Centre Inter-connect Superhighway. The network is designed to support high-performance AI computing for universities, research institutions and large enterprises that need to pool resources across multiple sites.
The company plans to use hollow-core fiber for the connection. Unlike conventional optical fiber, which guides light through glass, the technology carries most of the signal through an air-filled core. HKT said in a July network announcement that the planned route between the Lok Ma Chau Loop and Tseung Kwan O could deliver about 30 percent lower latency than traditional fiber. That performance figure is a company estimate and has not been independently tested in the new facility.
The planned network also supports Remote Direct Memory Access and related data-center transport standards intended to keep large numbers of graphics processing units synchronized across sites. HKT argues that this approach can let institutions scale training and inference workloads without concentrating all computing resources in one facility.
Superhighway rollout remains phased
The opening does not mean every planned connection is already operating. HKT previously targeted completion of the first phase between Lok Ma Chau and Tseung Kwan O by the end of 2026. Its latest announcement said the AI Exchange will also connect to the planned Sandy Ridge Data Facility Cluster, whose first phase is expected to begin operating in 2027.
The distinction matters because the company describes the center as groundwork for future cross-boundary data flows in the Greater Bay Area. The October announcement did not say that cross-border data services are already available, and any such services would need to comply with applicable data, cybersecurity and telecommunications rules.
At the same site, the HKT-ASTRI Joint R&D Lab is intended to help commercialize research produced in the Northern Metropolis. HKT did not disclose a budget, customer commitments or computing-capacity figures for the center, and it did not specify when the joint laboratory would produce its first commercial deployments.
Hong Kong builds AI infrastructure capacity
The project fits within Hong Kong’s broader effort to expand AI infrastructure and turn the Northern Metropolis into a technology and industrial hub. The Lok Ma Chau Loop forms the Hong Kong portion of the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Co-operation Zone, which is meant to connect research, industry and investment activity on both sides of the border.
Hong Kong’s first five-year development plan groups the Hetao zone with San Tin Technopole, Science Park and Cyberport in a wider innovation network. It also calls for greater support for technology commercialization and research institutions in areas including AI, microelectronics and advanced manufacturing.
The HKT project supplies one part of that stack: high-capacity connectivity between research users and distributed computing sites. Its practical impact will depend on the delivery schedule for the superhighway, the availability of data-center capacity at Sandy Ridge and other clusters, customer adoption, and the regulatory framework for any future cross-boundary data services.
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