Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po stressed that Hong Kong's synergistic development of finance and innovation technology highlights the city's strengths, and urged building a more vibrant ecosystem for the two sectors.
In a blog on Sunday (Jan 4), Chan noted that innovation and technology enterprises were the main drivers of the market rally, leading the Hang Seng Index's strong performance since the beginning of 2026, with the Hang Seng TECH Index rising by 4 percent.
Notably, several artificial intelligence-related stocks also continued to attract strong interest from investors.
He stated that Hong Kong is accelerating the optimization of its stock market structure toward "new quality productive forces", which refers to productivity driven by technological innovation that moves beyond traditional economic growth patterns.
As of the end of last year, over 400 new economy enterprises were listed in Hong Kong, Chan said.
While representing only about 15 percent of the total number of listed companies, they account for approximately 30 percent of the market's total market capitalization and trading volume.
Chan highlighted a recently listed Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) company that became one of the first key enterprises introduced to Hong Kong after his visit to Shanghai in 2023, when he met with the company's executives and highlighted Hong Kong's unique advantages.
The company has established a research and development center and a regional headquarters in Cyberport and has collaborated with local AI companies and research institutions to develop innovative solutions.
Chan added that the first three buildings of the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park have already been completed at the Lok Ma Chau Loop.
Among them, the occupancy rate for the two wet labs is nearly 80 percent, with over 60 enterprises and institutions from overseas, mainland, and Hong Kong gradually moving in.
Approximately half of these are in the fields of artificial intelligence and data science, while about 40 percent are in life and health technology.
