Uber to keep its regional headquarters in Singapore

US-based ride-hailing giant Uber said it will keep its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore until at least December 2022. The statement comes two months after it announced that it was shutting down its office in the city-state amid Covid-19.

The front desk at Uber’s new Asia-Pacific headquarters in downtown Singapore. / Photo credit: Uber

In May, the company said it would relocate its Asia Pacific hub to Hong Kong if the government there provides a regulatory framework that would legalize its operations in the country.

“Since then, we have seen strong public support for reforms, but not the level of certainty from the government that we need. As we continue those efforts, we have decided to keep Singapore as a regional hub for the medium term,” the company said in a statement.

Uber officially launched its service in Hong Kong in 2014, but it’s still deemed illegal for Uber drivers to carry passengers in the city without a hire-car permit. The company has also faced resistance from the local taxi industry.

“By no means are we quitting the Hong Kong market. We still need the government to have an open dialog with us,” a source in Uber told the South China Morning Post, adding that the government has given the company a “cold shoulder” especially in the past two months.

The source also said that Uber will continue to fight to move its regional headquarters to the city in the future.

Uber’s decision comes after Beijing introduced a new national security law in Hong Kong, which has stirred concerns that the move might allow the Chinese government to access data and censor content.

Short-video app TikTok, operated by China’s ByteDance, has left Hong Kong over concerns involving the new security law. Google and Facebook have also suspended processing government requests for user data from the region.