Hong Kong Developer ITC Properties Plans 1GW AI Data Centre Campus in Jiangsu

Hong Kong-listed developer ITC Properties Group is making its most significant push into digital infrastructure, announcing plans to build a 1-gigawatt AI data centre campus in Jiangsu province, China. The move marks a strategic pivot for the company, which has spent the past two years selling assets and reducing debt to reposition itself in the fast-growing technology sector.

According to a stock filing, ITC signed a cooperation memorandum with the management committee of the Yangkou Port Economic Development Zone in Nantong’s Rudong county. The project will be developed in phases over five years, beginning with a 200-megawatt facility designed to house up to 1,667 high-density cabinets of 120 kilowatts each, or the equivalent of 10,000 standard 20kW cabinets. The memorandum is non-binding, and the project remains subject to feasibility studies, customer commitments, financing, energy arrangements, and regulatory approvals.

ITC’s digital pivot follows a liquidity-driven divestment programme that began in earnest by September 2024, when the developer was in talks to sell its 250 Hennessy office tower in Wan Chai for a reported HK$608 million. At the time, the company had just HK$24.7 million in cash against HK$1.4 billion in borrowings, after posting an attributable loss of HK$645 million. Subsequent asset sales included a HK$260 million sale-and-leaseback of its headquarters floor at the Bank of America Tower in Admiralty, the $13.5 million disposal of its half-stake in Vancouver’s Westin Bayshore hotel, and the HK$50 million sale of an interest in the vehicle holding half of the Renaissance Shanghai Caohejing Hotel.

ITC went on to sell its 90.1 percent interest in London’s Greycoat Place project and reduced its stake in a proposed Alberni Street redevelopment in Vancouver from 28 percent to 18 percent. Despite these efforts, borrowings still stood at HK$926.2 million in March 2025, including HK$391.3 million of overdue debt, while cash totalled HK$47.7 million and the annual attributable loss widened to HK$813 million. The disposals accelerated during the latest financial year, with ITC completing the HK$361.8 million sale of its 67 percent interest in a To Kwa Wan redevelopment in October, followed in March by the sale of 250 Hennessy for HK$167.5 million in cash, based on an agreed property value of HK$410 million—well below the figure discussed in 2024.

The sell-down and three share issues stabilised ITC’s balance sheet by March 2026, with borrowings falling to HK$135.5 million and cash rising to HK$132.4 million. The group reported net current assets of HK$150.1 million, said all previously overdue bank loans had been settled, and raised HK$139 million from the issuance of 181.4 million shares, though its attributable loss remained at HK$527.7 million. ITC’s remaining significant property interests include 35.5 percent stakes in three Macau projects, 20 percent of the High Peak luxury residential project in Hong Kong, 45 percent of Guangzhou’s Dabiao International Centre, and 18 percent of the Alberni Street redevelopment, totalling 702,100 square feet of attributable existing floor area.

ITC signalled its digital ambitions in May by appointing data centre veteran Cao Xinwei, also known as Steven Cao, as an executive director and member of the investment and ESG committees. Cao, 53, currently chairs Beijing Qiyuan Xinda Technology Development, a data centre operator, and served as China chairman of hyperscale developer Chayora Holdings from 2011 to 2023. A qualified senior electrical engineer, he previously worked at State Grid Corporation of China and engineering consultancy Mott MacDonald. His expertise is expected to be critical to ITC’s role in the Yangkou project, where the company will coordinate planning, design, construction, technical systems, equipment procurement, financing, customer acquisition, network access, and operations, while the local committee assists with land, approvals, grid connections, green electricity, and supporting infrastructure.

ITC has also invested $2 million in British AI infrastructure platform Nscale and entered cooperation arrangements with China Unicom Hong Kong and Shenzhen-listed technology services provider Ronglian Group, further underscoring its commitment to building a diversified digital infrastructure portfolio.