AISS — Artificial Intelligence Subsidy Scheme
A HK$3 billion, three-year government allocation that subsidises **compute** rather than cash: eligible users of Cyberport's AI Supercomputing Centre (AISC) generally receive up to 70% of the service list price (in exceptional cases up to 90%). There are five eligible categories; the 'AI start-up' one means a company incorporated under the Companies Ordinance within the past seven years, with its headquarters or a regional office, main business operation or main management in Hong Kong, engaged in AI model development, fine-tuning and inference, and with fewer than 250 employees worldwide. Applications have been accepted year-round since October 2024, submitted by email, with Cyberport as secretariat.
You're developing, fine-tuning, building applications on or running inference for AI models, your training / inference compute bill is a major cost line, and your company is under seven years old with fewer than 250 employees worldwide and a real presence in Hong Kong — this can cut your compute cost to roughly 30%.
You want a cash grant you can spend freely — this only offsets Cyberport AISC compute service fees; it can't pay salaries or buy equipment (for those see ESS, TSSSU, and the HKSTP / Cyberport schemes). If you're already on another cloud provider and won't move to AISC, it does nothing for you.
- Deadline / window
- Open since October 2024, year-round with no fixed deadline (a three-year scheme; the remaining budget and window follow the latest official announcement)
- Company age
- Start-up category: incorporated under the Companies Ordinance within the past seven years
- Employees
- Start-up category: fewer than 250 employees in total, counting Hong Kong, mainland and overseas offices
- For whom
- Five eligible categories: local tertiary institutions / R&D institutions (including public R&D centres, InnoHK and HKPC) / government bureaux and departments / AI start-ups / key enterprises in strategic industries or frontier technology. A start-up must have one of its offices (headquarters or regional), its main business operation or its main management in Hong Kong, and be engaged in AI model development, fine-tuning, application development and inference
- Application form plus a project proposal covering milestones, timeline, compute requirements, market analysis, methodology and risk assessment
- Technical team structure and members' credentials, plus evidence of compute usage and team capability
- Proof of funding, certificate of incorporation and business registration
- Submit by email to aiss_application@cyberport.hk (the official notice states other methods such as post are not accepted)
It subsidises your compute bill, not your bank account
This is an unusual category on this site: the money never enters your account — it comes off the fees you pay for Cyberport's AI Supercomputing Centre (AISC). So whether it's worth it turns on one question: can your model training or inference run on AISC? If yes, a 70% discount on compute is a real cost cut; if no, this scheme is irrelevant to you. That's also why it doesn't compare like-for-like on 'amount' with cash matching grants such as BUD or ESS.
The application asks for more than you'd expect
You don't just fill in a form and collect compute. The official document list includes a project proposal (milestones, timeline, compute requirements, market analysis, methodology, risk assessment), your technical team's structure and credentials, evidence of compute usage and team capability, proof of funding, and incorporation documents. In other words, you have to show you can actually turn that compute into results — write it as a small R&D proposal, not a purchase order. Submission is by email to aiss_application@cyberport.hk only; the official notice says other methods such as post are not accepted.
- 1
Identify which eligible category you fall into
Of the five, the start-up test is the most concrete: under 7 years old, fewer than 250 employees worldwide, and one of headquarters / regional office / main business operation / main management in Hong Kong.
Pitfall: Counting only Hong Kong staff — the 250 threshold includes mainland and overseas offices, so a large parent group will fail it.
- 2
Size the compute you need and the share you pay
Estimate the total against AISC's list prices; the subsidy is generally up to 70%, leaving 30% for you to pay, and the exceptional 90% should not go into your budget assumptions.
Pitfall: Planning cash flow on a 90% discount and having to cover the gap when only 70% is approved.
- 3
Write a project proposal, not a quote
It must cover milestones, timeline, compute requirements, market analysis, methodology and risk assessment, with the technical team's structure and credentials and evidence of compute usage attached.
Pitfall: Stating how many GPUs you want without saying what for or how you'll validate it — missing methodology and milestones is a common reason to be sent back.
- 4
Email submission → assessment → contract and payment → service activation
The official flow has five steps: submit, assess, announce results, sign the contract and pay, then activate the service. Accepted year-round with no fixed deadline.
Pitfall: Assuming approval means you can start — you must sign the contract and pay your share before the service is activated.
How long is the real queue for AISC compute, and how long between approval and actually starting?· First-hand insight in the works
Pending a first-hand interview with a subsidised user.
After the 70% subsidy, how does AISC's real total cost compare with buying compute from international cloud providers?· First-hand insight in the works
Pending a first-hand interview — migration cost, available hardware and real throughput all matter, so it can't be inferred from list prices.
- 01Compute is your main cost and can run on AISC → start at aisc.cyberport.hk/aiss for the applicant guide and service pricing, then prepare the proposal.
- 02You want discretionary R&D cash → look at ESS (up to HK$10M per project, 1:1) or TSSSU (university-linked) instead.
- 03Unsure which category you're in or want to ask about terms → email the secretariat at aiss_enquiry@cyberport.hk.
The scheme is coordinated by the Digital Policy Office (DPO), which appointed the AI Subsidy Scheme committee in August 2024 and opened applications in October 2024; Cyberport is the secretariat and its AI Supercomputing Centre (AISC) supplies the compute. No fixed per-applicant ceiling has been published officially, so the 'amount' field on the spec card gives the scheme total and subsidy rate rather than a per-company cap. The remaining budget and future windows of this three-year scheme follow the latest official announcement.
Fetch note: Cyberport's main site cyberport.hk consistently returns Cloudflare 403 to our fetches, but the supercomputing subdomain aisc.cyberport.hk is directly fetchable, and this page's start-up thresholds and document list were verified from its official application page.