Google looks to capitalise on rising Asian IT market

Internet giant Google is set to build three data centres in Asia at a cost of more than US$200-million. The centres are being built to help the company cope with rapidly increasing user numbers in the region as well as stiff competition from rivals.

The new centres are planned for Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong and are anticipated to take up a collective total of 22.6 hectares of land.

Google currently owns and runs data centres in the US and Europe but none in Asia.

“The number of users and the amount of internet use in Asia is growing faster than anywhere else in the world,” Taj Meadows, Google’s Asia-Pacific policy communications manager said.

The California-based web giant, though, faces stiff competition its quest for Asian search dominance.

Cracking the Chinese market, in particular, is a massive challenge for Google. It had legal issues with Chinese authorities in 2010 and faces competition from domestic services like Baidu, which have become household names to China’s 485-million internet users.

A recent report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) revealed that Asian economies are closing the gap on the West in terms of IT competitiveness.

While the US and Finland retain the top two positions on the table, Singapore has leaped up six places from 2010 to become the third most IT competitive country on earth.

The EIU says that Singapore’s rise is the result of “a vastly improved score in the human capital environment”.

Australia, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea are all in the top 20.

The EIU expects Asia’s IT competitiveness to continue on an upward curve, particularly as India and China continue to grow their tech industries.

Several experts interviewed for the study also noted “improvements in the quality of IT talent in these markets”. These improvements, as well as the emergence of a more business-savvy managerial class, and the impetus provided by recent economic developments, have been crucial to the region’s increased competitiveness.