Hong Kong’s technology infrastructure is undergoing a major transformation as local government and businesses replace Western products with domestic alternatives, driven by closer integration with mainland China and rising geopolitical risks, according to tech experts.
US tech giants like Microsoft have long “served as the bedrock of Hong Kong’s digital landscape”, but that dominance is now being actively contested, particularly in the government sector, according to Francis Fong Po-kiu, honorary president of the Hong Kong Information Technology Federation.
In a sign of this shift, the Hong Kong Police Force is replacing Microsoft SharePoint – a cloud-based platform used by organisations to build intranets and manage documents – with mainland China’s Seeyon software in one division, according to Stony Shi, Seeyon’s head of business for the Asia-Pacific region. Another department made the same switch in 2024, Shi added.
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Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment.
The Hong Kong Police said that it adhered to established procurement procedures to acquire necessary services for operational use, and that it would not reveal specifics of the procurement due to operational reasons.
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The sweeping tech migration is fuelled by fears over tightening US technology export curbs targeting both mainland China and Hong Kong. “In an era of unpredictable US export controls and sanctions, the Hong Kong government views over-reliance on Western ‘black box’ technology as a strategic liability that could be deactivated or restricted at any time,” Fong said.
Is Hong Kong following Beijing’s lead and ousting Western tech?
