In the latest news, the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong SAR this Friday has approved the allocation of HK$2.84 billion for the establishment of a research center focusing on the development of semiconductors.

The funding, which was approved after a three-hour meeting of the Legislative Council‘s Finance Committee, will pave the way for the establishment of the Microelectronics Research and Development Institute (MRDI), which will lead universities, R&D centers and industry to collaborate in the research and development of third-generation semiconductors.

The research center will be housed in the Yuen Long Innovation and Technology Park and will include two pilot production lines for third generation semiconductors. In addition, the New Industrialization Acceleration Programme (NIA) has also been given a funding support of HK$10 billion. One legislator warned of the possible impact of sanctions, which he said could prevent the import of lithography equipment needed to produce chips.

Roundtable political organization MP Michael Tien urged the government not to ignore the possible impact of geopolitics, warning that the U.S. could further tighten export rules to limit access to cutting-edge chips and equipment.

"This is an election year in the United States. Have the authorities assessed whether some of the equipment we must import from overseas to set up our research institutes, such as photolithography systems, will be banned by overseas countries?" Tien said.

However, the Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Mr. Sun Tung, said the pilot production line would not use lithography equipment and the required equipment was not on the sanctions list, but the geopolitical complexity could not be ignored. Hong Kong‘s development in microelectronics requires not only technological breakthroughs, but also support at the policy level and stability in the international environment.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)