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BEIJING -- The 2026 Zhongguancun Forum (ZGC Forum) will spotlight the theme of "Full Integration Between Technological and Industrial Innovation," an official with the Ministry of Science and Technology said on Wednesday.
This year's ZGC Forum will be held in Beijing from March 25 to 29. More than 1,000 guests from over 100 countries and regions are expected to participate in the forum, which features more than one hundred events, Lin Xin, vice-minister of science and technology, said at a press conference.
The 2026 forum will be characterized by four distinctive features. Firstly, it will emphasize the expansion of the capital city's efforts to become an international science and technology innovation center by holding forums and releasing relevant policies for deepening coordination among Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, all located in north China, Lin said.
Lin also noted that it will emphasize the deep integration of technological innovation with industrial innovation by focusing on frontier fields such as 6G, brain-computer interfaces, and cell and gene therapy.
The integrated advancement of education, science and technology, and talent cultivation will also be a key characteristic of the 2026 forum, according to Lin.
Additionally, this year's forum will emphasize high-level scientific and technological openness and cooperation, she added.
The 2026 forum is jointly organized by several Chinese government agencies, including the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Founded in 2007, this forum in Beijing has evolved into a global, comprehensive, open and high-level international event for enhancing global innovation in science and technology.
Across China, a novel business model is rapidly emerging that removes headwinds for young entrepreneurs. AI has facilitated the rise of registered one-person companies (OPCs)—essentially allowing individuals to be the business themselves. Generative tools have made it easier than ever to launch a startup, and incubators are already seeing development potential.
According to a recent report by the Zhongguancun Talent Association in Beijing, metropolises such as the capital, Shanghai, and Shenzhen have increasingly become the top destinations for OPCs, particularly for their science and technology parks. Government support, a growing talent pool, and the popularization of AI are among the factors attracting one-person companies and helping them grow.
In Beijing's Haidian district, ZGC AI North Latitude Hub, an artificial intelligence industry community, is taking shape with the vision of building the world's top AI ecosystem.
Dong Bo, president of Kr Star Innovation, which operates the incubator, said the hub works closely with nearby universities to help graduates transition smoothly into the job market. He argues that the hub's resources and connections make it an ideal ecosystem for OPCs and scaling enterprises to develop their business models.
To empower them at various stages, the hub helps with company registration and legal consultation. Additionally, it organizes salons, industry exchanges, and technology-matching events with leading tech firms. Training courses on AI tool applications are open to internal and external participants, while regular events are held to bring businesses and investment institutions together. At present, over 20 OPCs reside in the hub.
According to the Zhongguancun Talent Association report, the number of one-person limited liability companies in China, primarily in the digital economy and service industries, exceeded 16 million nationwide as of June 2025. The number of newly registered OPCs reached 2.86 million in the prior six months, surging 47 percent year-on-year.
Wu Zhen is representative of the trend. As the founder of an intelligent virtual performance platform, he joined the hub in January. Introduced as a digital performance solution during the pandemic, the platform now supports a wide range of applications, including stage-based educational courses, motion capture, AI-generated short films, and AI virtual idols.
Wu said being an OPC allows him to retain creative control while outsourcing specialized and repetitive tasks to AI. It already helps him with copywriting and content generation, visual and video creation, basic software and web development, and other creative endeavors.
Wu said the core advantage of OPC lies in its speed and adaptability. Entrepreneurs must remain agile and iterative, especially in an era where AI makes any successful approach repeatable nearly instantly. "In the age of AI, what's truly scarce is not the ability to execute, but judgment, aesthetic sensibility, and long-term narrative vision," he said, adding that he believes the OPC model is here to stay.
Meanwhile, OPCs are prospering in other regions. In Y/OUR SPACE, a flagship offline developer hub and co-working community in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, a novel AI startup named Skillverse is quietly taking shape.
Founded by Mei Xiaodong, Skillverse is building an AI-powered app designed to solve the anxiety of not knowing one's true worth or potential in a market that threatens to make human labor obsolete. It acts as a diagnostic and growth platform that dissects a user's skills into a detailed, game-like "attribute panel", revealing latent talents and micro-competencies. "The ultimate goal is to help users understand their unique value and chart a path to enhance and monetize their abilities," said Mei.
AI is an invaluable partner for Mei, acting as CTO, designer, and engineer in the business operation so that the entrepreneur can focus on strategic decision-making. This synergy is embodied in Skillverse's development, where coding and user interface designs were co-created with AI.
"In an era where AI tools evolve faster than human learning, continuous skill development is the key to maintaining relevance," said Mei.
With a clear market vision, Skillverse is setting its sights on an international launch, targeting an annual recurring revenue of $1.5 million as its first milestone to validate the business model.
Yang Cheng and Chen Ye contributed to this story.
Across China, the rapid rise of one-person companies, or OPCs, empowered by artificial intelligence tools and strong ecosystem support, is reshaping entrepreneurship, as innovators leverage AI as a virtual team to drive business creation and growth.
According to a recent report by the Zhongguancun Talent Association in Beijing, metropolises such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen in Guangdong province have increasingly become the top choices for OPCs, particularly in local science and technology parks. The popularization of AI technology, government support and a talent pool are among the major factors attracting one-person companies and helping them grow.
Dong Bo, president of Kr Star Innovation, operator of the ZGC AI North Latitude Hub, which is an AI development hub in Beijing's Haidian district, described the hub as an enterprise cluster providing a supportive ecology for high-tech businesses. Its mission is to help integrate AI-driven companies, tech media, developers and tool-chain providers — entities that offer comprehensive suites of tools for building and managing AI applications.
The hub currently hosts 20 OPCs, whose entrepreneurs mainly come from domestic and foreign universities and technology enterprises.
One of the hub's members is Wu Zhen, a 44-year-old entrepreneur. He joined in January as the founder of an intelligent virtual performance platform.
Initially serving as a cross-city, cross-cultural digital performance solution during the pandemic, the platform now supports a wide range of applications, including stage-based educational courses, motion capture, AI-generated short films and AI virtual idols.
According to Wu, AI acts as a round-the-clock virtual team that plays a significant role in copywriting, content generation, visual and video creation, and basic software and web development. AI also adapts content for cultural tourism scenarios, such as AI-generated content light shows.
"In the age of AI, what's truly scarce is judgment, aesthetic sensibility and long-term narrative vision. OPCs are not a transitional form. They may well remain a vital and dynamic organizational model for a long time," he said.
Wu himself exemplifies the rapid development of OPCs. The report also found that as of June 2025, the number of one-person limited liability companies, primarily in the digital economy and service industries, exceeded 16 million nationwide. The number of newly registered OPCs reached 2.86 million in the first half of 2025, surging 47 percent year-on-year.
As with cross-border e-commerce, the use of AI digital humans helped OPCs reduce labor costs by 70 percent and increase sales by 300 percent.
However, Wu said that one-person companies, including his own, struggle with the lack of stable order pipelines and revenue.
Li Xiaolei, head of the Institute of Regional and Industrial Research at the Guangdong Provincial Investigation and Research Center, suggested that the government adopt open competition to enable OPCs to undertake targeted projects and give them inclusive access to computing power and shared data.
In January, Shenzhen issued vouchers providing substantial financial support to OPCs and reducing entrepreneurial costs. The city is also addressing workspace and accommodation needs.
Yang Cheng contributed to this story.
wangsongsong@chinadaily.com.cn
The Zhongguancun Forum, one of China's key platforms for international technology exchange, will take place in Beijing from March 25 to 29, according to organizers.
This year's forum will center around the integration between technological and industrial innovation. It will feature conference discussions, releases of new tech achievements, trade fairs, frontier competitions, and a range of supporting activities.
Supporting events will also be staged during the annual conference, including sci-tech cultural activities, science popularization programs, and enterprise-specific sessions, according to the organizing committee.
The ZGC Forum was founded in 2007 with the permanent theme of "Innovation and Development". It has been committed to providing countries with a platform to discuss cutting-edge technologies and future industrial development trends, engaging in dialogue on global innovation rules and governance, and sharing innovative ideas and development concepts.
BEIJING -- Media registration started Wednesday for the 2026 Zhongguancun Forum (ZGC Forum), which is scheduled to take place in Beijing from March 25 to 29.
Registration will be open for global media reporters until March 13 on the ZGC Forum website (https://reg.zgcforum.com.cn/ma).
With the annual theme of "Full Integration Between Technological and Industrial Innovation," this year's forum will include forum conferences, achievement releases, technology trade fairs, frontier competitions and supporting events.
Founded in 2007 with the permanent theme of "Innovation and Development," the forum has evolved into a global, comprehensive, open and high-level international event for enhancing global innovation in science and technology.
A wave of initial public offerings is sweeping China's graphics processing unit, or GPU sector, marking a critical phase in the nation's push for self-reliance in advanced computing power.
On Jan 22, Shanghai-based Enflame Technology's application to list on Shanghai's Nasdaq-style STAR Market was accepted by the exchange. This move paves the way for "The Four Dragons" — Enflame, Moore Threads, MetaX and Biren Technology — to complete their convergence in the capital markets.
This follows the successful listing of another Shanghai GPU firm, Iluvatar CoreX, on the main board of the Hong Kong stock exchange on Jan 8. It became the second homegrown GPU company to go public in Hong Kong after Biren. Earlier, industry leaders Moore Threads and MetaX had already debuted on the STAR Market to significant investor interest.
The listing momentum which started from late 2025 extends beyond dedicated chip designers. Baidu Inc has announced plans to spin off its non-wholly owned subsidiary Kunlunxin for an independent listing. Informed sources told China Daily that Alibaba Group is also considering a similar spin-off plan for its chip design arm T-Head.
This IPO rush unfolds against a backdrop of stringent US semiconductor export controls and an explosive growth in domestic artificial intelligence applications, thus driving demand for alternative computing solutions.
At a recent news conference, Li Chao, a spokeswoman for the National Development and Reform Commission, highlighted China's deepening "AI+" initiative, which "provides extensive application scenarios for AI computing chips". Li pointed to "rapidly growing demand and vibrant innovation across all types of computing chips", adding that "domestic chip products are accelerating their adaptation across different scenarios with very good results".
The comments acknowledge the sector's vitality while setting higher expectations for its future development. Computing power forms the bedrock of the digital economy, a strategic resource underpinning data flow, algorithm training and intelligent application deployment.
If AI is a lush crop, computing infrastructure is the "fertile black soil" it depends on. As the global computing industry shifts from scale expansion to qualitative leaps, building a secure ecosystem — from underlying chips to applications — has become imperative for China to secure its developmental sovereignty, experts said.
Dong Peng, a senior economist and member of the assets committee of the China Enterprise Confederation, described this listing wave as "a collective breakthrough for domestic computing power during a strategic window of opportunity".
"Beneath the surface heat in capital markets lie two fundamental drivers," Dong said.
"First, the national demand for autonomy and controllability in AI and high-end manufacturing has created an unprecedented dual engine of policy and market support. Second, Washington's export restrictions on US leaders like Nvidia have opened a precious market window for domestic firms."
He emphasized that listing is not merely about fundraising, but a crucial step to establish industry standards and ecosystem influence. "The race to go public is about seizing the advantage in technology iteration, customer lock-in and brand recognition while the competition landscape is still taking shape. This is a battle for survival and, more importantly, for future power."
The Hong Kong stock exchange and the STAR Market, as preferred boards for "hard tech" firms, have provided a streamlined pathway for these companies. Driven by continuous investment in AI infrastructure and the escalating strategic priority of technological self-reliance, China's domestic AI chip sector is poised for substantial market expansion, experts said.
Zhou Di, a senior engineer and expert with the National Science and Technology Expert Database of the Ministry of Science and Technology, said China's AI computing market is likely to evolve toward a "dual-track, domestically led" new market landscape.
"Nvidia is likely to retain a share in the high-end AI training market, represented by the demand of hyper-scale internet companies and cutting-edge research institutes, by virtue of its technical advantages. Domestic GPUs, leveraging cost-performance ratios, customized services, policy support and security advantages, are positioned to dominate vertical sectors like government affairs, finance, industry and healthcare, as well as broader cost-performance-sensitive markets,"Zhou said.
The wave of listings also comes as China's push for self-sufficiency in AI processors is gaining remarkable momentum, with at least nine domestic chip companies having surpassed a significant threshold of 10,000 units in terms of order shipments.
This 10,000-chip club signals that domestic AI chips are gaining tangible market traction based on their performance, stability and cost. It heralds a shift from mere scale competition to a more comprehensive battle encompassing software ecosystems, commercial services and sustained reliability, experts said.
The cohort includes the in-house chip divisions of tech heavyweights such as Huawei's Ascend, Baidu's Kunlunxin and Alibaba's T-head, alongside listed or soon-to-be-listed AI chip specialists such as Cambricon, Moore Threads, Enflame and Iluvatar CoreX. Even some startups, including Sunrise and Tsingmicro, have crossed this volume threshold.
Companies with the largest scale of shipments, such as Huawei, Baidu and Alibaba, have reached several hundred thousand.
He Hui, semiconductor research director at the United Kingdom-based tech research firm Omdia, said, "Alibaba's T-head is at the forefront in terms of AI chip shipments, benefiting from its early start and massive internal demand."
According to US market research company International Data Corp, in the first half of 2025, the size of China's server market powered by AI chips reached $16 billion, with over 1.9 million units shipped. Nvidia held about 62 percent of the market share, while Chinese chips captured about 35 percent.
IDC ranked Huawei's Ascend series first in market share among domestic chips in the first half of 2025. Backed by its parent company's vast ecosystem, Ascend enjoys stable demand, whose chips are used in large-scale clusters by telecom operators and tech firms.
Omdia's He said Chinese internet companies are adopting a two-way approach. On the one hand, they are making efforts to buy Nvidia's advanced chips within regulatory frameworks. On the other hand, they are supporting the development of domestic AI processors as much as possible. For instance, ByteDance is testing and using chips from Baidu's Kunlunxin and Cambricon, while Tencent is using processors from Enflame.
The growing demand for Chinese AI chips is also reflected in the documents filed by listed enterprises. Prospectuses submitted between late 2025 and early 2026 by companies such as Moore Threads, Iluvatar CoreX and Enflame show accumulated shipments surpassing 10,000 chips. Iluvatar CoreX, for example, reported delivering 52,000 AI chips to 290 clients across finance, healthcare and transportation sectors by June 30.
Industry insiders said they view the emergence of multiple 10,000-chip vendors as a critical transition. Roger Sheng, vice-president of research at US market research company Gartner, said it marks the entry into a "large-scale verification" phase for this round of industrial trial and error, as Chinese AI chip companies make progress.
But challenges exist. Sheng outlined critical areas for improvement, including adopting advanced packaging technologies and optimizing computer algorithms through cooperation with Chinese large language model providers.
Xiang Ligang, director-general of the Zhongguancun Modern Information Consumer Application Industry Technology Alliance, a telecom industry association, said that Nvidia's dominance in the global AI chip market relies not only on chip performance, but also on its entrenched CUDA ecosystem — a 20-year-old framework for AI compatibility.
While Chinese chips, such as Huawei's Ascend series, can technically rival certain Nvidia chips, they lack CUDA's universal adaptability for AI large language models, Xiang said. "However, geopolitical uncertainty is driving users toward Chinese chips, and developers are now shifting their focus to compatibility layers for domestic alternatives, eroding Nvidia's ecosystem advantage," Xiang added.
Omdia's He said that with domestic manufacturing capacity for AI chips expected to be ramped up in 2026, the industry anticipates "another wave of explosive growth".
Zhang Wen, founder, chairman and CEO of AI chipmaker Beijing Biren Tech, said, "The production capacity of advanced domestic AI chips will be crucial for the future of China's AI industry."
masi@chinadaily.com.cn
The industrial output of Beijing's AI sector is expected to top 450 billion yuan ($63.6 billion) by the end of this year, a new white paper on the industry revealed on Saturday.
In the first half of 2025, the figure reached 215.22 billion yuan, marking a year-on-year increase of 25.3 percent.
To date, Beijing is home to over 2,500 AI enterprises and has seen 183 registered large models, maintaining its leading national position.
The industry chain is becoming increasingly complete, forming a globally competitive industrial ecosystem, the white paper said.
The AI for Science Institute in Beijing launched Bohrium this year, which self-proclaims to be the world's first AI research platform that covers the entire process from literature review to computation, experimentation, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Meanwhile, commercialization paths are becoming clearer in the capital, with companies like Baidu and Douyin reaching record highs in revenue and active user numbers.
The Beijing Science & Technology Commission and the Administrative Commission of Zhongguancun Science Park jointly released the white paper.
