HK Investment Corp chips in with strategic deal

Financial Secretary Paul Chan said on Friday a strategic partnership between the government-backed investment firm and a mainland chipmaker will speed up adoption of the popular RISC-V chips in the city.

The remarks came as Chan delivered a keynote speech at the signing ceremony to mark the deal between Hong Kong Investment Corporation (HKIC) and Shanghai-based semiconductor start-up, StarFive, which produces the chips.

RISC-V is an open-source architecture that is used to design a range of less-sophisticated chips and allows developers to configure and customise their chip designs.

It’s considered capable of challenging Intel’s x86 architecture’s domination of the personal computer market as well as the Arm Holdings architecture that dominates the smartphone markets.

Speaking at the event via a recorded video, Chan said that based on the characteristics of the RISC-V architecture as well as Hong Kong’s strengths, the two sides could together reach new heights in creating new industries and forging global cooperation.

“As the application of open-source large language models, such as that of DeepSeek’s, become more inclusive and flexible, combining it with the supply and applications of RISC-V open-source chips will mean a great reduction in cost and a great increase in their flexibilities,” he said.

“Of course, as the RISC-V technology is now being developed at a fast speed, there’s a need to further enrich [its relevant] industrial clusters and for accelerated international collaboration. This will allow Hong Kong to fully leverage our advantages under One Country, Two Systems,” he added.

Separately, HKIC chief executive Clara Chan said the collaboration with StarFive will bring co-operation between the tech firm and local universities and institutes, while bringing new employment opportunities.

StarFive, she added, will also give priority to the SAR as its potential listing venue in the future.

The deal came as Beijing has been doubling down on the use of the RISC-V architecture as a bet to strengthen its domestic chip industry and reduce reliance on foreign suppliers.

However, it’s not known how much HKIC has invested in the six-year-old RISC-V chipmaker.

On Sunday, Chan also said in his weekly blog that the design and application of RISC-V open source chips is an important part of strategic planning for Hong Kong’s future.