200 billion, Macau's guiding fund is here.

Macau has also joined the fray.

Touzijie - Decoding LP has learned that Macau will inject MOP 1.1 billion to establish a government-guided fund worth MOP 2 billion.

As far as we know, this is Macau's first government-guided fund. On the afternoon of February 27, the Macau Special Administrative Region Government held a press conference on the government-guided fund at the Macau Science Center to introduce the relevant plan. Since then, the fund has officially emerged.

Almost at the same time, Hong Kong released its 2026 "Budget", also announcing the launch of a HK$10 billion "Innovation and Technology Industry Guided Fund", which is expected to start operating within the year. This scenario is thought-provoking.

MOP 2 billion

Macau to Establish a Government-Guided Fund

Specifically, in the Macau government's preliminary plan, it will inject MOP 1.1 billion into the fund from the accumulated earnings of the fiscal reserve over the years and jointly establish a guided fund with the first batch of social capital. The expected scale of the guided fund is MOP 2 billion.

According to the preliminary structural arrangement, the fund is divided into a government-managed and guided part and a market-oriented managed part. The market-oriented management adopts the "mother fund + sub-fund" model and guides social capital to participate in the investment.

The Macau government has high hopes for this fund - to pool and guide social capital, cultivate emerging industries, accelerate the upgrading and transformation of local industries, create better and more diverse employment opportunities, and attract talents to promote regional coordinated development, serving the goal of building China into a scientific and technological power.

Therefore, in terms of investment direction, the fund will guide different types of social capital to jointly invest in key enterprises and industrial fields, including five major directions:

(1) Emerging industries, industries undergoing transformation and upgrading, technology transfer projects, and start-up technology companies;

(2) Focus on key areas such as national strategies, industrial upgrading, technological innovation, and people's livelihood security;

(3) Areas that conform to the development positioning of "one center, one platform, one base" and give full play to Macau's unique advantages;

(4) Investment projects that support the coordinated development of the Macau Special Administrative Region with the cooperation zone and the Greater Bay Area;

(5) Other investment projects that conform to the government's policy orientation.

In addition, the fund will adhere to the concepts of "long-termism" and "patient capital", focusing on cultivating emerging industries and future industries that have a practical promoting effect on Macau's economy, so as to achieve industrial development and the circular use of funds, and not aim for short-term financial returns.

In terms of fund management, the Macau government-guided fund adopts a "3 + 1" governance structure, that is, three entities: the Chief Executive, the fund management entity, and professional fund managers, combined with the Fund Steering Committee.

Among them, the Chief Executive is responsible for supervision. The management entity is specifically responsible for the daily management of the fund and rigorously selects high-quality fund managers through market-oriented operations. The Fund Steering Committee is composed of government officials, professionals, scholars, and representatives from relevant fields, providing opinions on the fund's policy direction, strategic planning, and major issues.

It is reported that the Macau government will strive to complete the establishment of the fund within 2026 to start the selection of fund managers. It will also simultaneously promote the establishment of a fund management entity, introduce administrative regulations and supporting systems to regulate the operation of the government-guided fund, and start the work of negotiating with the first batch of social capital investors.

At the meeting, Tai Kin Ip, the Secretary for Economy and Finance of Macau, said that while creating favorable conditions for the market to actively participate in the development of key industries, the fund will, through long-term and systematic planning, fully promote the quality improvement and upgrading of key industries, and at the same time attract high-quality enterprises and talents to gather in Macau, Hengqin, and the Greater Bay Area, promoting regional coordinated development.

Both Hong Kong and Macau Take Action

Wind Vane

Coincidentally, Hong Kong has just officially announced a government-guided fund.

On February 25, Paul Chan Mo-po, the Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, delivered the 2026 - 2027 "Budget", announcing the launch of a HK$10 billion "Innovation and Technology Industry Guided Fund", focusing on investing in strategic emerging fields such as life and health technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, and future industries.

The layout of this fund started a year ago. Its models of "investing in early-stage, small-scale, and hard technology", reinvesting in Hong Kong, and having a 12-year sub-fund duration are not much different from those of the mainland government investment funds. At the end of 2025, the Innovation and Technology Industry Guided Fund started recruiting fund managers and will officially start investing this year.

In addition to the announcement of the guided fund, this "Budget" also released a series of important policy signals to support the development of science and technology innovation -

One of them is to vigorously promote the industrialization of AI, including the establishment of an "AI + and Industrial Development Strategy Committee", etc. In addition, emerging industries such as aerospace, microelectronics, embodied intelligence, electronic technology, and new materials are also included.

In contrast, Hong Kong realized the urgency of industrial transformation several years ago. After the release of the 2022 Policy Address, Hong Kong first established the Hong Kong Investment Corporation, planning to invest HK$62 billion in emerging industries. Then it accelerated the industrial layout and introduced a series of policies to attract enterprises and talents.

According to the latest news disclosed by the Hong Kong government, the Hong Kong Investment Corporation has invested in more than 190 projects in total, and every HK$1 of investment has successfully driven more than HK$8 of long-term capital to follow. Considering that the initial HK$62 billion of the Hong Kong Investment Corporation has been mostly allocated, the government said it will inject funds in a timely manner to further promote the development of science and technology innovation and industrial clusters.

Back to Macau. For a long time, Macau has relied on the gaming industry for development, gradually forming the problem of a single industrial structure, with few emerging industries. Not long ago, Ho Iat Seng, the Chief Executive of Macau, listed "promoting the establishment of a government-guided fund and a technology transfer guided fund" as one of the key points of the 2026 Policy Address.

It proposed to attract emerging industries to settle in Macau and Hengqin. In terms of the development of high-tech industries, the Macau International Science and Technology Industrial Center and the Macau Science and Technology R & D Industrial Park are also being accelerated.

From Hong Kong to Macau, an imminent industrial battle has begun.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Decoding LP", author: Yang Wenjing. Republished by 36Kr with permission.