When AgiBot Innovation needed a base to take its humanoid robots global, it picked Macao.
The Shanghai-based robotics firm, which makes robots for industrial, commercial and daily uses, plans to open a subsidiary in the city, using it as a research and development (R&D) hub and a springboard into the global market.
Macao may seem like an unexpected address for a robotics company. But for AgiBot, the logic is straightforward: no other city in the region sits at the same intersection of Chinese manufacturing depth, international finance and direct access to Portuguese-speaking markets.
Li Yingjie, AgiBot’s general manager for the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan region, says: “Leveraging Macao’s unique China-Portuguese platform advantages, we see Macao as our core hub to expand into European markets including Spain, Portuguese-speaking countries and South-east Asia.”
The company’s strategy is exactly how Macao is envisioning its development. Macao will be AgiBot’s R&D and international-facing base, while neighbouring Hengqin, the largest island in the neighbouring city of Zhuhai, will support intelligent manufacturing, mass production and the industrial roll-out of its robots.
For AgiBot, this means using one side of the border to develop ideas and the other to help scale them.
That model is becoming central to Macao’s wider economic ambitions.
Long known for tourism and leisure, the city is trying to build new growth engines under its “1+4” economic diversification strategy. The “1” refers to Macao’s core industry of tourism and leisure, alongside its four emerging industries of high-tech; big health; modern finance; and MICE, culture and sports.
Agibot’s move demonstrates a new path for businesses and investors who want to look beyond familiar innovation centres, like Singapore and Hong Kong, as a base.
It comes at a time when Macao is ramping up the development of its technology sector to diversify its economy.
The city’s planned Macao Sci-Tech Park is expected to span two sites: one opposite Macao International Airport on Avenida Wai Long, and another near the landing point of the Macao Bridge, which links the peninsula to Taipa.
Preliminary estimates put the project at about MOP18.1 billion (S$2.9 billion), with spending scheduled across 2026 to 2029.
The park will focus on integrated circuits, biomedicine, digital technology and aerospace technology.
Slated for completion in 2029, the Macao Sci-Tech Park is estimated to cost MOP18.1 billion (S$2.9 billion) and will span two sites.
PHOTO: DSEDT, MACAO
The purpose of the park is to bring research, incubation, funding, commercialisation and market entry closer together.
Infrastructure aside, funding support is also taking shape. In February 2026, the Macao government announced it was preparing a Government Guidance Fund, with an expected scale of MOP20 billion, including MOP11 billion from accumulated fiscal-reserve returns and private capital.
Rather than a direct subsidy scheme, the fund is intended to provide longer-term investment capital for emerging industries, technology commercialisation, start-up tech firms and industrial upgrading.
The scheme is meant to not only draw foreign capital and mobilise social capital participation, but also foster a local innovation ecosystem, advance industrial diversification and boost international competitiveness.
Macao: A gateway to regional and global markets
In April, Macao Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai led a delegation to visit Portugal and Spain for an exchange, resulting in 220 business matching sessions and 109 projects signed.
Dr Aglaia Kong, founder and chief executive officer of chip company LeapFive Technology, explains that Macao is a “super connector” between China and Portuguese-speaking markets.
Kong, who is a member of several Macao advisory bodies, says the city is home to 10 higher education institutions and four State Key Laboratories – China’s top-tier national research laboratories – which gives it a stronger research base than its size might suggest.
She sees Macao’s future role as a bridge to Portuguese-speaking countries, a headquarters hub and a scientific research base.
“Macao can concentrate on making breakthroughs in cutting-edge technologies, while leaving the industrialisation of research outcomes to other Greater Bay Area cities,” Kong notes. The Greater Bay Area is an economic cluster comprising Hong Kong, Macao and nine cities in Guangdong province, including Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Zhuhai.
This will play to Macao’s strengths – research, capital, talent, international partnerships and corporate coordination – while tapping neighbouring cities’ manufacturing depth and market scale, she adds.
Increasingly, government incentives reflect that strategy.
Macao offers a low-tax environment, targeted incentives for technology firms and policies to attract skilled professionals.
On the other hand, the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin complements that with land, pilot-production capacity and easier access to the Chinese mainland. Eligible high-end and in-demand talents working in the Zone are exempt from individual income tax on earnings above 15 per cent.
For firms expanding overseas, local networks and government support are often just as important as financial incentives.
Agibot’s Li says Macao’s Commerce and Investment Promotion Institute, also known as IPIM, has served as a crucial bridge for the company, providing information and support that helped with government liaison and reduced operational costs.
The challenge is whether Macao can turn research activity and policy ambitions into a critical mass of technology companies.
Chief Executive Sam signalled that shift in November 2025 when he promised to speed up economic diversification and put technology at the centre of Macao’s future, from high-quality jobs to research commercialisation and new public funds for emerging industries.
Macao’s smaller size can be advantageous for early movers like AgiBot.
Compared with larger technology hubs, Li says: “Enterprises with long-term investment commitments can readily secure government attention and resource support, unlocking amplified growth potential and robust developmental resilience.”
Visit www.ipim.gov.mo to learn more about investment opportunities in Macao.
