- The Causeway Bay office will serve as the company’s international R&D headquarters
- The move follows AgiBot’s July launch of its Hong Kong listing process
Chinese humanoid robot maker AgiBot (智元机器人) has opened an office in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay, establishing an international research and development headquarters as it steps up efforts to expand overseas and explore commercial uses for its robots.
The office, located in Times Square, was officially opened on October 9. It will serve as a hub for market partnerships, industrial applications and collaboration between academia and industry.
The opening ceremony was attended by Hong Kong officials including Lilian Cheong Man-lei (張曼莉), Under Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, and Peter Yan King-shun (任景信), Director-General of the Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises (OASES).
AgiBot was represented by co-founder and co-president Jiang Qingsong (姜青松), who is also its chief operating officer, and partner and senior vice-president Zhu Jie (朱洁).
The expansion comes as AgiBot advances its capital-market plans. The company began preparations for a Hong Kong listing in July, adding a financial dimension to its broader push to build an international business.
“Hong Kong offers an international business environment, a mature services sector and a strong base of research institutions and talent,” Jiang said at the ceremony.
The new office, he added, would bring AgiBot closer to overseas businesses, research institutions and partners, helping it deploy robots in a wider range of real-world settings.
R&D hub
The opening follows a development plan announced in May at Hong Kong’s first embodied AI industry summit.
AgiBot then unveiled a programme to develop the local embodied AI ecosystem, including plans for an international R&D headquarters and joint laboratories with Hong Kong universities and research institutions.
The company plans to expand in stages, first establishing its headquarters and joint research facilities, then growing its R&D team and investing tens of millions of yuan in laboratory infrastructure and research collaboration.
Talent recruitment is also under way. AgiBot held a campus recruitment session at the Chinese University of Hong Kong on October 9, with further events scheduled at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the University of Hong Kong on October 13.
Service uses
For commercial deployment, the company is targeting service industries such as retail, hotels and entertainment, where robots could support customer interactions and routine operations.
Over the longer term, it plans to explore opportunities to build an embodied AI industry cluster around Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis development and the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Co-operation Zone.
This is a cross-border tech hub linking Hong Kong and Shenzhen to promote joint research and innovation
Jiang said in May that AgiBot viewed Hong Kong as a gateway for international expansion and expected overseas business to account for more than 30% of total sales this year.
The new office gives the company a local base to pursue that goal, though the pace of adoption will depend on how well its robots perform in practical commercial settings.
Header image credit: AgiBot official WeChat
