Hong Kong said on Wednesday that it is setting aside $127.67 million to create an artificial intelligence research institute that will conduct research and development.

Hong Kong is set to reduce public recurrent expenditure by 7% by 2027/28 to curb a rising deficit while making a major push into artificial intelligence (AI) to counter global economic uncertainty, geopolitical tensions,

Hong Kong stocks surged Wednesday as the region announced plans to cut thousands of civil service jobs and boost its spending in artificial intelligence. The Hang Seng Index jumped 3.3% Wednesday, while the Hang Seng Tech Index soared 4.