China unveiled a new action plan on Friday aimed at supercharging artificial intelligence (AI) entrepreneurship among the country's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by 2028.

Released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the plan sets ambitious goals for cultivating a new generation of AI-driven companies across key sectors, including AI-related industrial applications, data services, and intelligent computing infrastructure.

Under the plan, the government aims to nurture more than 10,000 AI-focused SMEs and help over 2,000 companies achieve "little giant" status, a designation reserved for highly specialized, sophisticated firms with strong market positions.
The initiative also envisions the emergence of a wave of high-growth "gazelle" companies and "unicorn" startups in the AI space.

To build the ecosystem needed to support these goals, the plan calls for the construction of 10 high-standard technology enterprise incubators and 10 national-level public service demonstration platforms for SMEs. In addition, 10 new national-level SME industrial clusters with distinct AI specializations will be established.

Moreover, the plan will guide local authorities in optimizing talent evaluation systems to help startups attract and retain top-tier professionals.
It also proposes providing low-cost computing power to early-stage ventures and building a comprehensive patience capital support system to ensure long-term financial backing for AI startups.

This directive forms a central pillar of China's broader 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), which prioritizes technological self-reliance, supply-chain resilience, and the widespread deployment of the national "AI plus" initiative.