Hong Kong Injects $383 Million into AI Initiative

Hong Kong government, led by Paul Chan, announced a $383 million subsidy program over three years to fund the Cyberport business park.

Paul Chan, the financial secretary of Hong Kong, announced that the government has chosen to fund its Cyberport business park with $383 million over three years as part of an artificial intelligence (AI) subsidy program.

On Wednesday, Feb. 28, the comment was made at the budget release for 2024. Local educational institutions, government agencies, and companies will be able to make better use of the new AI Supercomputing Centre thanks to this program.

According to Chan, artificial intelligence is a game-changer for the digital economy of Hong Kong since it drives technical and industrial revolution. In addition to helping out local organizations, the subsidy will also improve the center’s cybersecurity and data protection. The goal is to drum up interest in Hong Kong among AI researchers, companies, and professionals from around the world.

This year, according to Chan, is when the AI Supercomputing Centre will go live. With an anticipated processing power of 3,000 petaflops by early 2026, it will be able to handle nearly 10 billion photos every hour.

The government of Hong Kong plans to open the center and the scheme in the year 2024. Following a user-pays approach, the levels of subsidies will differ according to applicant groups; no overall subsidies will be granted.

With the goal of assisting self-financing post-secondary universities in establishing an Alliance of Universities in Applied Sciences, Chan also disclosed the distribution of a HK$100 million ($12.7 million) startup fund. What did he say?

“The purpose of this alliance is to collectively promote vocational and professional education and training and enhance its reputation among parents, students and society in general”

New life and health technology research institutions at eight local universities will also get HK$6 billion ($766 million) in subsidies from the government. Mainland Chinese and international organizations will work together with these institutes.

The purpose of the money is to encourage the advancement of health and life technologies. It is drawn from the HK$10 billion ($1.2 billion) budget that was allocated in 2023. The objective is to entice top-tier innovation and technology experts and research groups to Hong Kong while simultaneously easing the process of research and development and propelling the transformation of research results.

The Standard reports that sources within the Hong Kong government have confirmed that the program will only be open to schools linked with the eight publicly funded colleges in the city. Three organizations will receive long-term subsidies from the government.

When it comes to healthcare IT, Hong Kong has been quick to adopt AI. In November 2023, the hospital’s administration decided to use AI to combat the significant increase of two superbugs.