Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, the company that operates the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the island's main stock exchange and one of the largest exchanges in Asia, has announced a plan to build a new large data center where it will consolidate several of its existing facilities.

On Monday, HKEx said it secured a 118,400 square foot site in Hong Kong's Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate, where it will build a three-story data center and IT office space that will provide a total floor area of 143,000 square feet. The company will use the new facility to consolidate all primary data centers that support the exchange's markets and clearing houses.

"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," recently appointed HKEx CEO Charles Li said in a statement. "They also support reliable trading and clearing infrastructure for all HKEx participants and information vendors, as well as the investing public."

The exchange currently operates two primary data centers and three back-up sites, all in Hong Kong.

According to initial estimates, the project's total cost will be about $700 million, including construction, relocation and technology upgrades over three years. HKEx plans to complete the project around mid-2012, relocating its securities market data center about 26 months from now and relocating the derivatives markets data centers about 12 months after that.

Li was appointed the company's chief executive in January, replacing Paul Chow in the role.