The American Chamber’s annual survey showed a striking return of confidence among participants, with 92% saying they had no intention to move their headquarters from Hong Kong in the next three years. That represented a sharp turnaround from the survey in 2024 and 2025, when 78% and 79% said they had no plans to leave Hong Kong. In 2024, 7% said that they had plans to leave, while in 2025, the number had dropped to 2%.
Other measures of a resurgence in confidence included an increase in the number of participants expressing optimism about the business outlook for the next 12 months, which rose from 33% in last year’s survey to 50%. The percentage of respondents rating Hong Kong as a competitive business center also rose significantly over the two years, from 10% to 25%.
Respondents saw both Hong Kong Government and U.S. government actions as important for improving U.S.-Hong Kong relations. 74% of members advocated emphasizing Hong Kong’s uniqueness, international character, and legal distinctions from the mainland. Additionally, 57% of respondents believed that greater recognition by the U.S. government that Hong Kong and mainland China are different would help improve bilateral ties.
The Chamber’s annual survey is closely watched by the Hong Kong government and other international chambers. It provides metrics to gauge sentiment towards Hong Kong over 23 questions, most of which are repeated annually. The 2026 survey, which was released on February 2, 2026, went to 450 corporate members of the American Chamber, with a response rate of about 25%. More than 40% of participating companies had global revenues of over US$1 billion.
“The findings of this survey provide more than a snapshot of business sentiment – they form the bedrock of AmCham’s advocacy for the year ahead,” said Eden Woon, AmCham President. “We use these insights to prioritize issues, engage policymakers and shape practical recommendations that support our members and Hong Kong’s competitiveness. Put simply: this evidence guides where we focus our voice and our resources.”
Topping the list of challenges for business were tensions in U.S.–China relations, followed by a slowing Chinese economy and overseas perceptions of Hong Kong. 57% of respondents, a majority, anticipate that U.S.-China relations will remain stable. Only 11% of businesses believed they would deteriorate, a 56% drop from last year.
According to the survey, U.S. government policies (chosen by 41% of respondents) exerted more influence on companies’ ability to do business in Hong Kong than policies of the Chinese central government (34%) or the HKSAR Government (33%). Survey results reflected tangible consequences of recent U.S. policies restricting investment in China. 40% of companies reported impact on their global business performance. 24% of members had experienced supply chain disruptions, 13% have already paused future investments, and 20% were reconsidering their long-term business operations in China.
Notably, companies were divided on contingency planning for a potential Taiwan Strait conflict. 52% of respondents reported giving either significant or moderate consideration to conflict scenarios when making business plans, while 47% indicated it was not a consideration or not applicable.
Hong Kong’s data infrastructure serves as a key test of the city’s competitiveness as a modern hub. In 2020, the South China Morning Post reported that some foreign firms feared the national security law would “restrict the free flow of information in the city and hamper business development,” prompting clients who had planned to expand data centers or cloud services in Hong Kong to consider alternative locations such as Singapore, Japan, and Malaysia. But in AmCham’s 2026 survey, optimism about the city’s future as a regional data center rose to 47%, up from 28% in 2025. Confidence in storing customer and company data locally in Hong Kong similarly strengthened from 28% to 47%.
As confidence in Hong Kong’s role as a regional hub recovers, AmCham member companies are also renewing their commitment to the Greater Bay Area. The share of survey respondents operating in the Greater Bay Area (GBA) has reached a new peak of 67%, and, for the first time, no company said they had plans to reduce their GBA footprint.
Positive sentiment regarding the Hong Kong government’s support for research and development reached a peak of 57%. However, Shenzhen continued to rank first as the preferred location for R&D at 62%, widening its lead over Hong Kong and Singapore, which were tied at 40%. However, when asked which city represents the greatest competitive threat to Hong Kong, only 18% of respondents named the GBA city of Shenzhen, compared with 60% who pointed to Singapore.
When it comes to difficulties in doing business in the GBA, two challenges tied for the top position, each cited by 54% of respondents – local competition, and policy and regulatory uncertainty. As more companies seek to capture emerging opportunities, regional competition has intensified.
The GBA’s policy and regulatory environment is still widely perceived as less than fully transparent, with most respondents describing it as either “somewhat clear” (52%) or “not clear” (41%). When looking for support to sustain growth, respondents placed greater emphasis on regulatory and policy coordination (63%) and tax or financial incentives (51%) than on further expansion of physical infrastructure.