HKU partners with tech giants to offer AI labs at expanded Shanghai campus

The University of Hong Kong (HKU) has teamed up with prominent technology companies to establish AI laboratories on its recently expanded Shanghai campus. The university welcomed over 300 students for the new academic term at the Zhangjiang Science City campus. The campus is set to grow next year when HKU's medicine and engineering programs begin at the Shanghai location.

HKU's computing and data science school opened a Shanghai base in mid-January. The university signed agreements with 17 Hong Kong and mainland Chinese firms, including Unitree Robotics, BrainCo, and AgiBot, to create joint AI and fintech labs at the campus. These labs are housed in two of the new buildings inaugurated at the Shanghai campus.

Two additional blocks containing teaching and research facilities opened in mid-January, with three more structures scheduled to open later. The entire campus covers more than 30,000 square meters. HKU President Xiang Zhang emphasized that the Shanghai campus would leverage the city's strengths in innovation and industry to advance partnerships involving AI and cutting-edge technologies.

Professor Ma Yi, director of HKU's computing and data science school, highlighted that the Shanghai campus would focus on computing and AI, exploring robotics, engineering, and healthcare. Students will benefit from on-site space, enabling them to conduct internships and engage in frontier technology without leaving the campus. The Shanghai campus has already enrolled more than 1,000 students, with over 300 starting the new term.

Many students, like second-year computer science major Marcus Law, are drawn to the program for its access to Shanghai's research environment and technology ecosystem. Law expressed interest in bioinformatics and noted that the mainland offered a more vibrant development environment. Tunige Tuerxunbieke, a Kazakh master's student, chose HKU after considering options in the United States due to HKU's acceptance of Tsinghua graduates and the city's support for student innovation.

HKU operates from three other locations in Shanghai, including the Bund SOHO Base, which opened in December 2025 and offers executive MBA and DBA programs for working professionals.