Industrial Policy & Trade Monitor· 2665 actions· ✨ 90 recent

The Hong Kong government launched the Pilot Innovation and Technology Accelerator Scheme (PITAS) on 29 January 2026, an HKD 180 million (approx. USD 23 million) matching-grant programme administered by the Innovation and Technology Commission. The scheme provides funding support on a one-to-two matching basis between the government and the applicant, capped at HKD 30 million per approved project, to attract professional innovation and technology (I&T) enterprise service providers with proven accelerator track records to set up startup-accelerator bases in Hong Kong. Applications close 30 April 2026.

On 2026-01-15, Hong Kong's New Industrialisation Vetting Committee announced it had supported in principle an application from Oriental Materials Hong Kong Limited — a subsidiary of mainland China's Henan Oriental Materials Co. — under the New Industrialisation Acceleration Scheme (NIAS). The project will fund new production lines at Yuen Long InnoPark producing and validating front-end semiconductor manufacturing equipment (furnace systems, etching equipment, chemical vapour deposition systems). Total project investment is over HKD 800 million, with the Hong Kong government providing up to HKD 200 million (roughly one-third, per NIAS's 1:2 government:enterprise matching structure). Construction was slated to begin by end-March 2026, with production targeted around June 2027.

The Hong Kong government launched the Frontier Technology Research Support Scheme (FTRSS) on 26 September 2025, a HK$3 billion matching-grant fund administered by the Innovation and Technology Commission. The scheme funds the eight University Grants Committee (UGC)-funded universities to attract international top-tier researchers and procure research facilities in frontier-technology fields, with each successful application eligible for HK$100-300 million. The government frames the scheme as dovetailing with national strategic planning for frontier technologies; applications closed 25 November 2025 with results expected in H1 2026.

On 2025-06-25, Hong Kong's New Industrialisation Vetting Committee announced it had supported an application from J Cube Semiconductor (Hong Kong) Limited under the New Industrialisation Acceleration Scheme (NIAS) — the third project approved under the scheme. The project will establish production facilities for third-generation (silicon carbide, SiC) semiconductor wafers in Hong Kong, classed under the advanced-manufacturing-technology sector. Total project cost is estimated at over HKD 700 million, with expected NIAS government funding of up to HKD 200 million — the scheme's per-project cap. The same announcement introduced an enhancement measure for the related New Industrialisation Funding Scheme (NIFS).

Government Decree 163/2025 (VI. 23.) amends the emergency-era Decree 561/2022 (XII. 23.) on economic-protection deviations, making two operative changes to Hungary's FDI screening regime: it extends the review period from 30 to up to 135 working days (45-day base plus three 30-workday extensions) and introduces a state pre-emption right, exercisable within 90 calendar days of a prohibition decision, allowing MNV Zrt. (Hungarian National Asset Management Company) or a designated entity to acquire the blocked target on the same terms as the original parties. The decree applies retroactively to all notification procedures pending at the time of entry into force (24 June 2025) and expands the screening scope from a solar-sector focus to broad strategic sectors. It served as an interim bridge — in force from 24 June to 18 August 2025 — until superseded by the permanent statutory codification in Act L of 2025.

Hong Kong enacted the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (Minimum Tax for Multinational Enterprise Groups) Ordinance 2025 (Ordinance No. 21 of 2025), gazetted on 6 June 2025 after the Legislative Council passed the Bill on 28 May 2025. The Ordinance inserts Part 4AA and Schedules 61–64 into the Inland Revenue Ordinance (Cap. 112), implementing the OECD/G20 Pillar Two GloBE rules for MNE groups with consolidated annual revenue ≥ EUR 750 million in at least two of the four preceding fiscal years. It introduces a 15% Income Inclusion Rule (IIR) and the Hong Kong Minimum Top-up Tax (HKMTT) — a Qualified Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax (QDMTT) — effective for fiscal years beginning on or after 1 January 2025; the Undertaxed Profits Rule (UTPR) is deliberately deferred to a date to be specified by gazette notice, completing a structurally phased Pillar Two architecture. IRD estimates additional revenue of approximately HKD 15 billion per year from 2027–28.

The Hong Kong Legislative Council passed the Stablecoins Ordinance (Cap. 656) on 21 May 2025 (third reading), brought into operation by the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury on 1 August 2025. The Ordinance introduces a mandatory licensing regime administered by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) for any person who issues a fiat-referenced stablecoin (FRS) in Hong Kong, issues an HKD-pegged stablecoin anywhere in the world, or actively markets such issuance to the Hong Kong public. Key requirements include minimum HK$25 million paid-up capital, segregated pools of high-quality liquid reserve assets fully backing circulating supply, mandatory redemption-at-par rights for holders, AML/CFT controls, and broad HKMA enforcement powers including licence suspension, revocation, and financial penalties. A six-month transitional period for existing operators expires 31 January 2026.

The US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published abbreviated Hong Kong-Related Sanctions Regulations at 31 CFR Part 585, codifying the sanctions framework established by Executive Order 13936 of July 14, 2020 ("The President's Executive Order on Hong Kong Normalization"). The regulations prohibit all transactions with persons designated under EO 13936 — those determined to have undermined Hong Kong's autonomy or contributed to the erosion of freedoms guaranteed under the Sino-British Joint Declaration — and add designated persons to the OFAC Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list. OFAC published the rules in abbreviated form for immediate public guidance, with intent to supplement with full interpretive guidance, general licenses, and licensing policy.