By Danielle Popov Hannah Wang
Hong Kong鈥檚 ambition to create an artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem is bearing fruit, with more than 90 per cent of the city鈥檚 flagship supercomputing centre at Cyberport now in use, according to officials.
The AI Supercomputing Centre, which began operations in December, is a cornerstone of the government鈥檚 strategy to foster a vibrant local AI ecosystem. Authorities have earmarked HK$3 billion (US$418.6 million) in subsidies to support AI model development and applications.
Cyberport said on Friday that it had received 20 applications for the subsidy programme, with 10 projects approved so far. Among the recipients is the Hong Kong Generative AI Research and Development Centre, which is developing a foundational audio model and a ChatGPT-style tool used by more than 70 per cent of government departments. The centre has also launched a multilingual transcription tool capable of detecting Cantonese, Mandarin and English.
The government is seeking to boost computing resources for start-ups as part of its ambition to transform Hong Kong into a leading technology hub, Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Sun Dong said in June. Plans are under way for a new supercomputing centre at Sandy Ridge in the Northern Metropolis 鈥 a government project to transform a large swathe of land in the New Territories into an economic hub.
At the Cyberport event, Yang Hongxia, one of China鈥檚 top AI scientists and head of computing at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, said access to the centre鈥檚 resources helped her project achieve breakthroughs in medical applications.
鈥淏y collaborating with the top cancer treatment hospitals in Hong Kong and mainland China, we have enhanced data analysis and localised applications in the specialised field of cancer treatment based on vertical large models and specialised models,鈥 Yang said.
鈥淭his reduces the number of complicated tests during the treatment process, alleviating both the physical and mental burden on patients, while also saving the manpower and time costs required for clinical testing.鈥
Under the scheme, eligible users may receive subsidies of up to 70 per cent of the supercomputing centre鈥檚 service list price. The three-year programme, launched in October 2024, is designed to encourage local institutions and research centres to leverage the facility鈥檚 resources.
鈥淲e hope to attract global AI talent to promote innovative research and 鈥 achieve more breakthroughs and accelerate the development of the AI ecosystem鈥 in Hong Kong, said Hendrick Sin, chairman of the Committee of the Artificial Intelligence Subsidy Scheme.
Cyberport currently hosts more than 400 AI companies and start-ups, with more than 120 new members joining just last year. It has also attracted several major strategic AI firms, such as iFlyTek, Xunfei Healthcare, Biren Technology, China Year, Inspur Cloud, Baidu Apollo, Yunji and Metax.