Mainland Chinese technology giants in cutting-edge fields are increasingly treating Hong Kong as a “strategic adaptation ground” to transform themselves into global multinational enterprises, the city’s finance chief has said.

Following his trip to attend a forum and visit tech companies in Shanghai and Nanjing last week, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said on Sunday that mainland technology companies expanding into international markets had moved beyond simply exporting products.

“By bringing in international capital and talent, and by building brands and sales networks, they are turning overseas operations into a new engine for growth,” Chan wrote in his weekly blog.

“Executives in the technology sector further noted that their goal is to develop into multinational enterprises – meaning they aim to connect globally in terms of markets, capital structure, corporate governance, talent, as well as research and development alongside production and supply chains.”

Chan added that many mainland firms no longer picked Hong Kong merely for its fundraising capacity but as a “strategic adaptation ground” for international development. Such moves reflected the companies’ trust in the city’s international investor network and recognition of the city as a platform connecting Chinese technological innovation and global capital.

Chan said that during his recent trip to attend the Lujiazui Forum in Shanghai, he held discussions with representatives of cutting-edge technology enterprises and visited many firms specialising in artificial intelligence, semiconductors, biotechnology and the low-altitude economy.