The exchange will buy a 118,000 square foot (11,000 square metre) plot in Hong Kong’s Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate. The preliminary plan is for a three storey data centre and IT office space with a total floor area of 143,000 square feet (13,000 square metres).

The new data centre will house all HKEx’s markets and clearing house systems and IT support staff.

HKEx’s data centres are spread across two locations in Hong Kong, with back-up centres in another three areas of the city.

HKEx said a self-built data centre was the most efficient and cost-effective way of meeting its technological, security and development needs.

Chief executive Charles Li said: “Technology and data centre operations play a critical role at HKEx, ensuring the delivery of the secure, reliable and effective IT services needed to run the exchanges and clearing houses. They also support reliable trading and clearing infrastructure for all HKEx participants and information vendors, as well as the investing public.

“The data centre project shows our commitment to further strengthening our market infrastructure to support our markets’ long term development.”

Construction will begin in the first half of this year and should be completed by mid-2013. The data centre for securities will be the first to be relocated in 2012, with the derivatives arm moving in the following 12 months.

The initial estimate of total cost is HK$700m ($90m) including land costs, construction, upgrading and relocation.