Hong Kong and Macau are integral to mainland China’s ambitions to build a globally competitive commercial space industry, according to executives at Beijing-based commercial space company GalaxySpace, as it bets on the two cities to help take its technologies and services overseas.
“We have come to realise in recent years that Hong Kong and Macau hold irreplaceable strategic positions and industrial value in the development of China’s commercial space sector,” Xin Yichun, general manager of government and corporate partnership at GalaxySpace, told reporters during a media tour on Wednesday in Beijing.
While Beijing, the Chinese capital, serves as the country’s hub for satellite research, development and manufacturing, Hong Kong and Macau complement those strengths with international business networks and global connectivity, positioning them as an indispensable gateway for China’s commercial space sector to expand globally, Xin said.
The company was pushing for more collaboration between the three cities in the commercial space sector, believing that Hong Kong and Macau would serve as “an important platform for Chinese commercial technology and services to expand overseas”, Xin added.
Founded in 2018, GalaxySpace has emerged as one of China’s leading commercial space companies, developing low-Earth orbit satellites and communications technologies as Beijing accelerates its drive to develop commercial space and domestic satellite network industries.
The company, which began its initial public offering process for a domestic listing earlier this year, has launched a total of 46 self-developed satellites as of this month.
GalaxySpace views commercial space and satellite technology not only as a fast-growing technology field but also as a catalyst for deeper regional coordination and economic integration.
Last year the company partnered with Hong Kong telecommunications giant PCCW to establish the city’s first low-Earth orbit satellite internet demonstration station to test its technology. It has also worked with the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute to explore satellite-enabled autonomous driving applications.
“Hong Kong’s internationalisation helps transform our technologies and products into technical standards that can be recognised and accepted globally,” said Huang Heping, GalaxySpace’s general manager of international business development.
Huang likened Hong Kong to a “converter” that enables Chinese technologies to plug into international markets.
“When products and services go global, they need a converter, just like travellers need a power adaptor overseas. Hong Kong is that converter,” he said.
GalaxySpace’s strategy reflects a broader trend among mainland frontier tech companies to use Hong Kong as an operational base for international expansion, rather than just a conventional source to raise capital.
Autonomous driving company WeRide, which completed a secondary listing in Hong Kong last year, described the city as a “talent hub, innovation paradise, fertile ground for capital and bridge for communication”, its founder and CEO Tony Han Xu told reporters on Wednesday.
Han added that the company was using Hong Kong as a springboard into right-hand-drive markets such as Singapore and the UK.
Beijing-based Dynaflow, which focuses on advancing scientific research through artificial intelligence, also established a Hong Kong subsidiary to support overseas business development, high-end scientific equipment imports and exports, and research collaboration with local universities, according to its vice-president Dong Yuchong.
The company said it was also leveraging Macau’s links with Portuguese-speaking countries and Europe to expand internationally.
