In the first half of this year, China welcomed over 237,000 new companies related to AI, bringing the total number of enterprises in this sector to a staggering 1.67 million.
This remarkable figure was announced by the business database platform Qichacha on August 6. Of these, more than 1.48 million, or nearly 90%, were established after 2017, following the release of China’s New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan by the State Council. This ambitious plan aims to position the nation at the forefront of the global AI landscape.
These AI-related companies are predominantly engaged in the development of chatbots and early-stage large language models (LLMs). A record number of over 467,000 new registrations were recorded last year, spurred by the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT at the end of 2022.
According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), China currently boasts four major “AI tigers” that are competitive on a global scale: Baichuan, Zhipu AI, Moonshot AI, and MiniMax. Each of these companies has secured billions of dollars from eager investors. Major corporations such as Baidu, Alibaba, ByteDance, and others are also developing AI models that are recognized for their high quality.
However, the fierce competition has led to the downfall of some. For instance, last year, nearly 50,000 AI-related businesses ceased operations, primarily due to insufficient funding.
AI stands as one of the strategic priorities in China’s technological self-reliance agenda. The New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan targets achieving “world-leading levels” by 2025 and becoming a “major global AI innovation center” by 2030. This plan underscores the goal of making AI a key driver for industrial upgrading and economic transformation.
Additionally, data from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), released in July, highlighted that over the past decade, more than 50,000 patent applications related to generative AI technologies—such as text, image, computer code, and music generation—were filed globally. China led the charge with over 38,000 generative AI patent filings from 2014 to 2023, which is six times the 6,276 inventions filed by the United States during the same period.
