AI boom will sustain Hong Kong’s export surge, lift GDP outlook, economists say

Hong Kong's export surge, driven by global AI demand, will sustain growth and lift GDP beyond official forecasts, economists say. Billy Mak, an associate professor at Baptist University, said demand for AI hardware remains unsaturated and will continue to boost exports, which rose 53.4% year on year in June to a record HK$641.1 billion.

AI boom will sustain Hong Kong’s export surge, lift GDP outlook, economists say Baptist University’s Billy Mak says rising export values also reflect higher prices for AI components and relative easing in China-US trade tensions global AI boom https://www.scmp.com/topics/artificial-intelligence?module=inline&pgtype=article , economists have told the South China Morning Post, adding that gross domestic product GDP growth could surpass official forecasts. Billy Mak Sui-choi, an associate professor at Baptist University’s accountancy, economics and finance department, said global demand for artificial intelligence AI remained far from saturated and would continue to drive exports. “No single country has yet been able to dominate the AI field across models, services and hardware,” he said. “As long as countries see an opportunity to compete, they will continue investing in the necessary hardware.” Mak noted that while initial AI demand centred on Nvidia’s graphics processing units, businesses realised that a broader ecosystem was required, including memory chips, photovoltaic modules and motherboards, helping to explain Hong Kong’s strong exports and re-exports from mainland China. exports https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy?module=inline&pgtype=article rose by 53.4 per cent year on year in June, as overseas demand for the region’s electronic products supporting AI pushed monthly shipments to their highest level since March 1984, when the same figure stood at 61.6 per cent. Provisional figures released by the Census and Statistics Department on Monday showed the value of exports climbed to a record HK$641.1 billion US$81.7 billion after a 40.8 per cent rise in May.