The “Lion Rock Chip” Shines, A New Landmark in Hong Kong’s Innovation and Technology
Lion Rock, once a landmark in Kowloon, Hong Kong, now has a new meaning in the field of innovation and technology. Recently, the world’s first data center management chip based on the RISC-V architecture, the “Lion Rock Chip,” was launched in Hong Kong, becoming a dazzling new star in the local innovation and technology industry. This chip was developed by Sifang Technology, supported by investments from the family office of Li Ka-shing, chairman of Cheung Kong Holdings, and the Hong Kong Investment Management Company (HKIM), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Hong Kong government. It has achieved large-scale commercial deployment of RISC-V in the data center sector, injecting strong momentum into Hong Kong’s innovation and technology industry.
Collaboration from Multiple Parties to Build the “Chip” Dream
The birth of the “Lion Rock Chip” is not a coincidence, but the result of multi-party collaboration. In March of this year, HKIM made a strategic investment in Sifang Technology, aiming to leverage it to promote the development of the RISC-V industry in Hong Kong, integrating chip design, system development, and application scenario resources. Sifang Technology is also actively collaborating with Super Fusion to establish an innovation center to promote chip applications, and has reached a technical cooperation agreement with Intel to complete platform management function verification. Additionally, Sifang Technology previously collaborated with China Mobile Hong Kong and Hong Kong and China Gas to promote the application of the “Honghua Chip” in Hong Kong, with over 6 million units shipped, applied in smart gas meters to enhance reading efficiency and data security.
Outstanding Performance and Wide Application Scenarios
The “Lion Rock Chip” boasts excellent performance and has already received customer orders, currently in the trial production stage, with mass production expected in Q1 next year. Its application scenarios are diverse, with data center operations being the largest scenario, driven by strong demand from cloud service providers and operators; the edge computing market, though still small, has huge potential due to the need for centralized management of distributed servers; and the industrial control field is also actively expanding. This chip acts like “property management” for data centers, responsible for system security, energy consumption scheduling, and operational management, equipped with a self-developed high-performance RISC-V core and a coherent on-chip network (NoC), ensuring the normal operation of data centers from aspects of security, daily operations, and AI detection.
Industry Prospects, Unlimited Potential Released
RISC-V, an open-source instruction set architecture born in 2010, stands alongside x86 and ARM architectures and is expected to become a significant next-generation chip instruction set architecture globally. Its open-source and scalable characteristics provide opportunities for leapfrogging in the chip industry. Industry data shows that the annual shipment of global data center management chips is about 16 million units, expected to grow to 30 to 40 million units by 2030; global RISC-V chip shipments are expected to exceed 16.2 billion units by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of over 40%. Amid the AI wave, the market space for data center management chips is enormous, and RISC-V’s core role in AI chips will further strengthen.
Policy Support, Perfecting the Innovation and Technology Ecosystem
Although Hong Kong is not a traditional stronghold for chip manufacturing, it is actively seeking breakthroughs under top-level design and strategic layout. The Hong Kong Microelectronics Research Institute will be established in 2024 to research and develop core technologies for third-generation semiconductors, with two pilot production lines expected to be operational in the first half of next year. The Hong Kong government has also launched the “Innovation and Technology Fund” to encourage entrepreneurship, announcing the second batch of projects funded by the “Industry-Academia-Research 1+ Plan” in June this year, with a total funding amount exceeding HKD 1 billion. As an ecosystem builder, HKIM not only provides financial support but also promotes technology popularization from schools and encourages cooperation among invested companies and government support. By the end of October 2025, over 150 projects had been invested in, with 2 companies listed and more than 10 applications for listing submitted, leveraging every HKD 1 investment to attract over HKD 6 in long-term market funding.
Integration of Industry, Academia, and Research to Compose a New Chapter of Innovation
Collaboration between industry, academia, and research is an important path for Hong Kong to transform scientific research achievements. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is collaborating with Guangzhou Sunbird Technology, which specializes in RISC-V dedicated processor solutions for DSA, to explore cooperation in the audio field with universities in Hong Kong and Macau. Professor Yu Jie from the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology founded Gaowu Semiconductor, focusing on the design and development of high-end energy-saving semiconductor chips, receiving funding from the “Industry-Academia-Research 1+ Plan.” Healthcare is also one of the application directions for RISC-V in Hong Kong, utilizing more sensors to collect health data from the elderly while emphasizing confidentiality. Hong Kong is steadily advancing on the path of innovation and technology through deep integration of industry, academia, and research, with a promising future ahead.
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