70% of HK SMEs Eye Northern Metropolis as Growth Engine: PropTech Opportunities Soar

Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis project, a planned new town for 2.5 million people and a tech hub integrated with Shenzhen, isn’t just a government vision—it’s a catalyst waking up the city’s SME sector. With 70% of surveyed businesses calling the development relevant to their future, proptech startups and established real-estate tech firms have a clear signal: demand for tools that connect physical assets with digital intelligence is about to spike.

Hong Kong’s small and medium enterprises are accelerating their digital transformation, with a pronounced pivot toward artificial intelligence and a keen eye on the massive Northern Metropolis development, according to a May 2026 survey commissioned by Dah Sing Bank. The poll of over 340 SMEs reveals that 23% have already adopted AI or generative AI, while another 32% plan to do so within two years, suggesting that more than half of Hong Kong’s SME sector could be AI-enabled by 2028. At the same time, nearly 70% of respondents view the Northern Metropolis and the adjacent Hetao-Hong Kong Science Park as strategically relevant to their future business, underscoring the importance of infrastructure-led growth in the city’s evolving economic model.

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SMEs are predominantly deploying AI in front-facing, low-complexity functions: 56% for marketing and content creation, 42% for customer service, 35% for sales support, and 30% for data analysis.

This data arrives at a critical juncture. Hong Kong is pushing to reposition itself as a global innovation hub, partly through the Northern Metropolis—a sprawling new town and tech ecosystem designed to accommodate 2.5 million people and integrate with Shenzhen’s tech corridor. The SME survey confirms that local businesses are not bystanders; they actively perceive these government-backed developments as platforms for expansion, whether through new customer bases, supply chain reconfiguration, or direct participation in smart-city projects.

The AI adoption figures paint a picture of enthusiasm tempered by underdeveloped capability. SMEs are predominantly deploying AI in front-facing, low-complexity functions: 56% for marketing and content creation, 42% for customer service, 35% for sales support, and 30% for data analysis. However, only 14% have extended AI into process automation or workflow improvement—areas where true productivity leaps reside. This gap suggests that for most SMEs, AI is currently a bolt-on for customer engagement rather than a re-engineering of core operations. The reliance on off-the-shelf tools like chatbots and content generators points to a market still in the early mainstream phase of the technology adoption lifecycle.

The survey also hints at persistent barriers that stall deeper integration. While the full release was truncated in available sources, references to “capability gaps” and earlier sections allude to a lack of in-house technical expertise, data privacy concerns, and high implementation costs—classic friction points for smaller firms. Without addressing these, the risk is that AI adoption plateaus at superficial applications, leaving the transformative potential untapped.