Photo: VCG

 Chinese technology giant ByteDance has reportedly decided to set up a new headquarters in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province. Media reports noted that one of the major reasons behind the decision is to attract talent from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). 

Along with the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the talent strategies of technology companies based in the Chinese mainland could support talent mobility and economic development in the whole area, experts noted on Sunday.

"Hong Kong has seen its economy growing at a slower pace, which causes anxiety among its youth," Song Ding, a research fellow at the Shenzhen-based China Development Institute, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Song said that with a stronger talent development environment, the mainland, Guangdong Province in particular, could offer more opportunities for Hong Kong youth.

ByteDance attaches great importance to HK talent and it is easier to attract these people with a new headquarters in the Bay area in Shenzhen, reported jiemian.com on Saturday. 

The report noted that an R&D center in Hong Kong might be established later by the company.

ByteDance declined to comment on the news when contacted by the Global Times on Sunday.

The company has more than 2,000 employees in Shenzhen and a total of 4,000 in the Bay area, said the report, and ByteDance plans to hire 10,000 people for its new headquarters within three years.

Cong Yi, an industry expert, told the Global Times that the Bay area, as an integrated economic entity, possesses tremendous economic growth momentum.

With escalating talent exchange, the vitality of the economy in the Bay area including Hong Kong will be raised, Cong said.

Technology giant Tencent has set up a financial technology innovation laboratory and a finance college in the Greater Bay Area, aiming to foster talent and promote the development of financial technology industries in the area, according to new.qq.com in April.

Victor Chan, 33, vice chairman of the Hong Kong Association of Young Commentators, told the Global Times that under the active promotion of the central government, the HKSAR still has advantages in technology innovation. "With more and more technology giants or R&D centers settling in the Greater Bay Area, it will be a great benefit for talent in Hong Kong, and Hong Kong must seize the opportunity," Chan said.

The new Bay area, which is home to 71.16 million people, had a total GDP of $1.6 trillion in 2018, which was the third-highest after the Tokyo Bay Area and New York Metropolitan Area, according to the Hong Kong Trade Development Council.
Newspaper headline: ByteDance expands presence in Greater Bay Area to attract HK talent