Hong Kong embraces data trading as economic engine, finance chief says
Hong Kong is ramping up efforts to become an international data-trading hub by forging ties with mainland China and Southeast Asia, as cross-border data sharing is a new engine of an AI-driven economy that will benefit people and businesses, said Financial Secretary
Paul Chan Mo-po
'We are also committed to opening and sharing data that the private sector and academia can use,' Chan said on Tuesday at the inaugural International Data Industry Alliance (IDIA) Global Summit in Hong Kong.
The government's
open data portal offers more than 5,600 data sets and recorded more than 60 billion downloads in 2024, he said.
The value of data is 'immense', Chan said, adding that China's digital economy delivered more than US$4.8 trillion in revenue last year. That value would only rise as artificial intelligence (AI) large language models – driven by high quality, accessible data – unlocked new industrial and commercial opportunities, he said.
More than 100 representatives from Hong Kong's data industry, technology enterprises, financial companies and the academic sector discussed cross-border data collaboration, security, compliance and scalable technology adoption at the summit. Government officials responsible for digital-economy initiatives in Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Pakistan were also present at the event.
The Commercial Data Interchange launched by the
Hong Kong Monetary Authority
in 2022 had processed more than 20 million data exchanges as of April 2025, enabling faster credit assessments and making loans more accessible to small and medium-sized enterprises, Chan said.
Hong Kong 'remains an open, diverse and international city with the free flow of goods, capital talent and crucial data' under the one country, two systems framework, serving 'as a superconnector between China and the rest of the world', he added.
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