Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company, announced the opening of the AWS Asia Pacific (Hong Kong) Region.

With this launch, AWS now spans 64 Availability Zones within 21 geographic regions around the world, and has announced plans for 12 more Availability Zones and four more AWS Regions in Bahrain, Cape Town, Jakarta, and Milan.

The AWS Asia Pacific (Hong Kong) Region is the eighth active AWS Region in Asia Pacific and mainland China along with Beijing, Mumbai, Ningxia, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, and Tokyo. Starting, developers, startups, and enterprises, as well as government, education, and non-profit organizations can leverage the new AWS Asia Pacific (Hong Kong) Region to run their applications locally, serve end-users across Hong Kong with lower latency, and leverage advanced technologies from the world's leading cloud with the broadest and deepest suite of cloud services to drive innovation.

"Hong Kong is globally recognized as a leading financial tech hub and one of the top places where startups build their businesses, so we've had many customers asking us for an AWS Region in Hong Kong so they can build their businesses on the world's leading cloud with the broadest and deepest feature set," said Peter DeSantis, Vice President of Global Infrastructure and Customer Support, Amazon Web Services. "The dynamic business environment that exists in Hong Kong - among startups, enterprises, and government organizations - is pushing them to be one of the foremost digital areas in Asia. By providing an AWS Region in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, we hope this enables more customers to be more agile, innovate, and transform their end-users' experience for decades to come."

"We are delighted to see the official launch of the AWS Asia Pacific (Hong Kong) Region, and it comes at a time when we are embracing digital transformation and developing into an international innovation and technology hub," said Nicholas W Yang, JP, Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. "Data has become a new currency of the digital economy and a new fuel for innovation. This infrastructure region is an integral component to foster technology advancements, allowing for greater innovation and further facilitating our digital transformation. The opening of the AWS Asia Pacific (Hong Kong) Region also enhances our leading position as a data hub and puts Hong Kong in a strong position to lead the next wave of innovation in data-related technologies."