By the end of this page you will know exactly how much government money a Hong Kong enterprise can put into an AI project in 2026, which fund is still open, what your AI project has to be about to qualify, and the four conditions that disqualify most applications before they are written.
The reason this question is confusing is that the obvious answer is out of date. The Technology Voucher Programme, the scheme most Hong Kong companies still name first, stopped accepting new applications after 31 December 2024. What replaced it for AI work is a fund most people file under "exporting", not "IT".
Can the BUD Fund pay for an AI project in 2026?
Yes, and since 15 June 2026 it does so explicitly. The Trade and Industry Department confirms that the enhancement measures rolled out on that date include more targeted funding support for BUD Fund projects that involve artificial intelligence elements. The AI work must sit inside a market development project, not stand alone as an IT purchase.
That distinction is the whole game. The BUD Fund exists to help non-listed Hong Kong enterprises develop business in the Chinese Mainland and other covered markets through branding, upgrading and restructuring operations, and promoting sales.
An AI project qualifies when it advances one of those three purposes in a covered market. It does not qualify because it is modern, useful or overdue.
How much funding can you actually get?
Three ceilings apply at once: a per-application ceiling, a cumulative per-enterprise ceiling, and a 1:1 matching requirement. Government support covers up to 50% of approved project cost, so an HK$800,000 grant requires HK$800,000 of your own spend on a HK$1.6 million project.
BUD Fund ceilings, as published by the Trade and Industry Department
--- General application: funding ceiling of HK$800,000 per application, covering the full array of fundable measures.
--- "Easy BUD": funding ceiling of HK$150,000 per application, raised by 50% from HK$100,000 with effect from 15 June 2026, covering designated measures only.
--- "E-commerce Easy": funding ceiling of HK$800,000 per application, with a cumulative ceiling of HK$1 million per enterprise, for developing the Mainland and the ten ASEAN markets through e-commerce.
--- Cumulative ceiling: HK$7 million per enterprise across the BUD Fund, with the E-commerce Easy HK$1 million counting towards it.
--- Funding basis: 1:1 matching. The Government funds up to 50% of approved project cost and the enterprise contributes no less than 50%.
--- Processing time: 30 working days for "Easy BUD" against a 60-working-day performance pledge for other BUD Fund applications.
Read those together and the practical planning number for a first AI project is HK$300,000: an Easy BUD application at the HK$150,000 ceiling, matched by HK$150,000 of your own budget.
Who is eligible, and who is not?
The BUD Fund is open to non-listed Hong Kong enterprises registered under the Business Registration Ordinance. There is no employee-count cap, which is the point most enterprise readers miss: a 300-person Hong Kong company is eligible on the same terms as a 15-person one, provided it is not listed.
Listed companies are out. So are enterprises with no substantive business operations in Hong Kong.
This is a genuine advantage over the schemes that get more airtime. The Digital Transformation Support Pilot Programme, frequently cited as the TVP successor, is restricted to SMEs in the Food and Beverage, Retail, Tourism and Personal Services sectors, which rules out most of the readership of this page.
If you are a 50 to 500-person logistics, professional services, manufacturing or trading group that is not listed, the BUD Fund is the route that is actually open to you.
What changed on 15 June 2026?
Three things, per the Trade and Industry Department. The geographical scope expanded by 20%, the Easy BUD ceiling rose 50% from HK$100,000 to HK$150,000, and the Government began providing more targeted funding support for BUD Fund projects involving AI elements.
The eight economies added for general and Easy BUD applications are Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Egypt, Hungary, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Brazil, taking total coverage to 48 economies.
A fourth change followed on 1 July 2026, when the SME Export Marketing Fund was consolidated into the BUD Fund, with the guidelines updated to explain exhibitions in more detail and to publish a reference list of previously approved exhibitions.
The combined effect for an enterprise AI buyer: a larger target-market list to anchor the project in, a meaningfully larger fast-track application, and an explicit signal that AI content will be assessed rather than questioned.
What kind of AI project qualifies, and what does not?
Qualifying AI work is tied to a covered market and to branding, upgrading or sales. An AI customer service layer serving Mainland buyers, an AI-driven product localisation workflow for an ASEAN launch, or AI quality inspection on a production line meeting an overseas regulatory requirement all sit inside the fund's purpose.
Work that fails is usually internal-only. An AI assistant deployed purely for Hong Kong head office productivity has no market development story, and no amount of technical merit repairs that.
A useful test before you write anything: name the covered market, name which of the three purposes the AI serves, and state the commercial outcome in one sentence. If any of the three is hard to write, the application is not ready.
Note also that the Legislative Council was told in a written reply on 8 July 2026 that AI-related measures are recognised across the Government's business support schemes, with AI chatbot development for company websites and AI systems ensuring production lines meet overseas regulatory requirements cited as examples of the kind of work now in scope.
What does the money actually cover, and what do you pay yourself?
You pay first. BUD is a matching, reimbursement-style scheme, so the enterprise funds the project through its own cash flow and recovers the approved government share against audited expenditure. Treat it as a rebate on a project you have already decided to run.
Plan for three cost blocks the grant does not remove. The 50% you contribute by definition. The audit fee, which sits inside the project budget. And the internal time to prepare, document and acquit the application.
The sequencing consequence matters more than the arithmetic. Because funding follows spend, an approval-dependent project plan is a fragile one, and the strongest applications are for projects the business would proceed with at a slower pace regardless.
What the BUD Fund will not do for you
This section exists because most funding pages stop before it. The honest constraints are as follows.
--- It is not IT funding. An AI project with no covered-market development story will not qualify, however strong the internal business case.
--- Listed companies are excluded outright, with no partial route.
--- Approval is not guaranteed, and the 60-working-day pledge for general applications means a rejection costs you a quarter.
--- You carry the cash flow, because the matching share is reimbursed against audited spend rather than advanced.
--- The Technology Voucher Programme is not an alternative; it has been closed to new applications since 31 December 2024.
UD's own limitations should be equally clear. UD is a technology partner, not a funding consultancy: we scope, build and run the AI work, but we do not file your BUD application, and we cannot influence its assessment. If what you need is an application writer rather than an implementation partner, engage a funding consultant and bring us in for the technical scope.
Nor is UD the right choice for every buyer. If your AI project is a pure Mainland e-commerce storefront build, an e-commerce specialist is a better fit than an enterprise IT partner. If you need audited third-party benchmarking of vendors before you commit, engage an independent advisory firm first.
What is the right next step?
Establish technical scope before funding strategy. A BUD application needs a defined project with a cost breakdown, a deliverable list and a stated commercial outcome, and none of those exist until someone has scoped the AI work against your actual systems and target market.
The cheapest way to test whether you have a fundable project is a readiness assessment, because it produces the two things an application needs: a clear statement of what AI can do in your operation, and a defensible number attached to it.
Start free. UD's AI Ready Check takes about three minutes and returns an instant readiness report at no cost, with no card and no subscription. For related budget frameworks, see UD's guides to managing enterprise AI spend and building an AI business case your CFO will approve.
Government funding is a discount on a decision you have already made well. It is not a reason to make one badly. We understand AI. We understand you. With UD by your side, AI never feels cold.
Reviewed by the UD enterprise AI team. Figures in this article are taken from the Trade and Industry Department's published BUD Fund page as at 2 July 2026 and were verified on 10 August 2026. Fund terms change; confirm current ceilings and eligibility on the Trade and Industry Department BUD Fund page and the official BUD Fund website before you budget.
Find out if you have a fundable AI project
Funding follows a defined project, and a defined project starts with knowing where AI fits in your operation. UD has built and run enterprise AI in Hong Kong for 28 years, and we'll walk you through every step, from readiness assessment and scoping to deployment, controls and measurement.
