Hong Kong can play the middle party in helping China replicate India's success as a software-programming outsourcing hub for global companies, according to investment bank UBS Warburg.
Head of Hong Kong/China technology and Internet research Bethany Chan said the mainland had the potential to become a major supplier of tedious programming tasks to global software companies.
However, she said, given that Chinese software engineers had lower English proficiency and a lack of work experience on projects for global companies, it would take time for China to play a significant role in the industry.
Ms Chan said China would benefit from Hong Kong companies tapping into its large talent pool.
'Already, many Hong Kong information-technology [IT] companies have set their sights on these talents,' she said, adding that software development centres had been set up in China.
Their reselling and integration experience with overseas software houses would help bridge the gap between mainland programmers and the companies.