Financial Secretary Paul Chan on Wednesday said Hong Kong's listing regime reforms over the past eight years have boosted the market share of new technology firms, as growth in the "new economy" picks up.

At the Global Financial Leaders' Investment Summit, Chan said local market capitalisation of new economy companies has soared since officials introduced a series of measures to help them list in the SAR.

"As a result of this spirit of reform and innovation, the share of new economy companies in our market has more than doubled, growing from 16 percent of total market capitalisation in 2017 to 35 percent today," he said.

"In terms of IPO proceeds, they accounted for 45 percent of funds raised from 2018 to the first half of 2025."

Chan said that with the combined market capitalisation of the Hong Kong, Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges only standing at around 100 percent of the country's gross domestic product, there is a lot of potential for further growth.

"Indeed, we see substantial room for growth in our capital markets, and the positive outlook of China's development and technological advancement supports the optimism," he added.

Separately, the finance minister said that Hong Kong is betting big on using artificial intelligence to boost investment and attract talent, with global private capital investment in such technology exceeding US$190 billion this year alone.

Meanwhile, it is estimated that up to half of global trade growth from this year will be driven by AI-related expenditure according to the Word Trade Organisation, he added.

Chan said Hong Kong is well-positioned to capture the rapid AI growth, and that the city shares a similar vision to the country's 15th five-year plan, which also recognises that AI plays a central role in "advancing Digital China".

"As Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang noted, some 50 percent of global AI researchers are Chinese. Amid geopolitical tension, an increasing number of these researchers are coming here, using Hong Kong as their base for academic research and application of research outcomes," Chan said.

"Hong Kong is making great strides in building a vibrant and globally connected AI ecosystem. We have rolled out different initiatives supported by dedicated incentive schemes and funding. We are also investing directly and co-investing with others in AI companies, start-ups and projects."