China's AI giant iFLYTEK to set up international HQ in Hong Kong

China's artificial intelligence (AI) and intelligent speech giant iFLYTEK and its subsidiary iFLYHEALTH will set up their international headquarters in Hong Kong's flagship incubator Cyberport, and help with the formation of a local AI ecosystem.

"iFLYTEK and iFLYHEALTH plan to invest 400 million Hong Kong dollars ($51.22 million) in Hong Kong over the next five years to establish an international headquarters, an international business headquarters, an international R&D center, an international trade and capital management platform, as well as a 150-member team to drive R&D and overseas market expansion, with a view to establishing an AI ecosystem with tens of thousands of developers," Cyberport said in a press release on Friday.

Meanwhile, iFLYHEALTH will set up an international research institute at Cyberport focusing on cutting-edge technology research that integrates medical health and AI, the release said.

Addressing the signing ceremony, Sun Dong, secretary for innovation, technology and industry of the HKSAR government, said that the HKSAR government has always been a strong supporter of Hong Kong's innovation and technology development, in which AI, and life and health technology are the government's focus on the development of technology industries with advantages.

He added that Hong Kong has already gathered numerous leading enterprises domestically and abroad, including iFLYTEK, SenseTime, Cisco, as well as hundreds of excellent AI enterprises, and an AI ecosystem is taking shape in Hong Kong.

Simon Chan Sai-ming, chairman of Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited, called the participation of iFLYTEK another milestone in Hong Kong's AI ecosystem, believing that this will further boost the innovation and R&D of Hong Kong's AI industry as well as the commercialization of relevant products and technologies, so as to attract AI investments from both home and abroad.