24% of Hong Kong firms to widely adopt AI, with smaller headcounts expected: KPMG

AdvertisementHong Kong economyHong KongHong Kong Economy24% of Hong Kong firms to widely adopt AI, with smaller headcounts expected: KPMGSurvey by professional services firm shows number of companies expected to widely adopt technology up 8 per cent from 2025 figure2-MIN READ2-MIN ListenOscar LiuPublished: 4:20pm, 8 Apr 2026Updated: 5:32pm, 8 Apr 2026Nearly a quarter of Hong Kong companies are expected to widely adopt AI this year, a threefold increase from a year ago, while a growing number of business leaders believe the technology will result in smaller headcounts, a survey has revealed.Professional services firm KPMG released the Hong Kong Employment Outlook 2026 on Wednesday, with the poll showing that 24 per cent of organisations were set to widely adopt artificial intelligence (AI), up from just 8 per cent in the previous survey.KPMG China surveyed 281 Hong Kong executives from January 12 to 25, of whom 41 per cent held leadership roles across various sectors.AdvertisementThe firm said the acceleration of AI deployment reflected a fundamental shift as companies moved from experimental pilot projects to integrating the technology into core operations.The trend was particularly clear for operations such as innovation and technology product development, and finance and accounting, it added.AdvertisementThe survey revealed that fewer respondents believed the adoption of AI would produce more jobs, with 19 per cent of them agreeing with the idea, down from 24 per cent.AdvertisementSelect VoiceSelect Speed0.8x0.9x1.0x1.1x1.2x1.5x1.75x00:0000:001.00x