Sun Dong: Support the development of Hong Kong's intelligent computing industry, enhance computing power supply and resource utilization efficiency.

On October 14, Professor Sun Dong, Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry of Hong Kong, said at a Legislative Council meeting that Hong Kong's first five-year plan proposes promoting AI (artificial intelligence) as an important industry for Hong Kong's future development. The Hong Kong SAR Government will actively promote the construction of computing infrastructure and foster the healthy development of the AI and intelligent computing industries. Hong Kong's current overall computing power has reached 5,000 petaFLOPS (PFLOPS), of which the Cyberport Artificial Intelligence Supercomputing Centre (Supercomputing Centre) accounts for 3,000 PFLOPS. The Supercomputing Centre's current utilization rate exceeds 90%, reflecting strong market demand for AI computing services. Sun Dong introduced that the Hong Kong Government will actively enhance computing power supply and resource utilization efficiency from the short, medium, and long term. In the short term, the Hong Kong Government will make good use of existing facilities and the AI subsidy scheme to support the R&D, model training, and application needs of local research institutions, universities, and enterprises. The AI subsidy scheme committee will review arrangements such as computing resource allocation and usage periods in a timely manner based on the actual needs of funded projects and overall resource utilization, so as to improve resource utilization efficiency. Cyberport will also continuously review the service capacity and future demand of the Supercomputing Centre, and study feasible options for enhancing computing power supply. In the medium term, the Sha Ling data park has commenced construction and will be developed into a regional advanced data centre and data park for related industries. It is expected to begin initial operation in 2027 and be fully operational by 2032 or earlier, by which time it will provide computing power of 180,000 PFLOPS per second, greatly enhancing Hong Kong's computing power supply capacity. In the long term, the Hong Kong Government is preparing to commission a consultant to conduct a new round of computing power research, analyzing Hong Kong's future computing power demand, with "efficient computing power, stable electricity, and low-carbon transformation" as the core directions, to optimize the operation of Hong Kong's data centres and computing power layout, and provide a planning basis for the long-term development of Hong Kong's intelligent computing industry. Sun Dong continued that in the long run, the Hong Kong Government recognizes that Hong Kong has advantages and potential to help develop activities such as "computing power trading" and "token export," but Hong Kong's primary task at present is to strengthen computing infrastructure. From the perspective of the financial market, establishing a complete product ecosystem (including related trading, settlement, and price discovery mechanisms) needs to be built on a mature underlying market foundation and a well-developed market ecosystem. At this stage, the Hong Kong Government will focus on promoting the development of Hong Kong's intelligent computing industry and related supporting facilities, consolidating the foundation of computing power supply, while closely monitoring the latest developments in the intelligent computing industry in the mainland and overseas. As for cross-border AI and computing services such as "token export," relevant development must take into account factors such as data flows, cybersecurity, personal data protection, and relevant laws and regulations. The Hong Kong Government will work with the industry and relevant stakeholders to actively explore cooperation models conducive to the long-term development of Hong Kong's AI industry, further enhancing Hong Kong's competitiveness as an international hub for AI and intelligent computing services. In addition, Sun Dong said that when planning the intelligent computing industry, the Hong Kong Government will simultaneously review water and electricity supporting facilities. Industrial planning in the Northern Metropolis (Northern Metropolis) with higher water consumption is mainly concentrated in the areas of San Tin, Sha Ling, and Hung Shui Kiu/Ha Tsuen. Regarding the water demand of intelligent computing facility cooling systems during operation, the Hong Kong Government will continue to encourage enterprises to use water-saving technologies and make good use of different water sources, including appropriately allocating potable water and reclaimed water for cooling purposes. On electricity, the two power companies are required under the Scheme of Control Agreements to provide, operate, and maintain adequate electricity-related facilities and supply electricity to meet electricity demand. CLP Power Hong Kong Limited has already made construction and planning arrangements for the electricity supply demand of Hong Kong's future development, sufficient to support the overall development of the innovation and technology industry (including data centres).