U.S.-based Equinix Inc. announced plans to spend USD63 million to build its second international business exchange data center, HK2, in Hong Kong.

The new IBX data center will provide total capacity for more than 1,450 cabinet equivalents. Targeted for opening in the third quarter of 2011, the USD20 million first phase of the HK2 IBX center will offer an initial 450 cabinet equivalents.

The expansion enables Equinix to continue serving the Hong Kong market with business exchange services for global enterprises, banking and financial companies, and cloud and IT service providers.

The HK2 is the fourth in a series of recently announced IBX data center expansions in the Asia Pacific region. Equinix has recently announced the expansion of SY3 data center in Sydney, the third phase expansion of the existing SG2 center in Singapore, and launched a new market in Shanghai with its partnership with Shanghai Data Solutions.