China Unveils Three-Year Plan to Support AI Startups and Solo Developers

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has launched a three-year support initiative running from 2026 to 2028 aimed at accelerating artificial intelligence startups. The program targets the cultivation of over 10,000 technology and innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and more than 2,000 specialized 'little giant' firms. Crucially, the policy formally extends state support to emerging entrepreneurial structures, including 'one-person companies' (OPCs), super-individuals, and autonomous agent developers, promising pooled computing capacity, industry datasets, and commercial scenario access.

The plan signals a shift in China's industrial policy toward supporting micro-enterprises and AI application-layer creators. By lowering entry barriers and resource costs for solo developers and small teams, Beijing is seeking to accelerate real-world AI deployment across traditional manufacturing, healthcare, and research sectors.

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has introduced the Artificial Intelligence SME Entrepreneurship Support Plan (2026–2028), outlining a series of targets to expand the country's AI startup ecosystem. According to reports from People's Daily and Securities Times, the three-year plan aims to cultivate more than 10,000 technology and innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across priority domains, including industry applications, data services, and intelligent computing. Under the framework, the ministry aims to foster over 2,000 national-level 'little giant' enterprises alongside emerging gazelle and unicorn firms. MIIT also plans to construct 10 high-standard technology business incubators, 10 national SME public service demonstration platforms, and 10 national-level characteristic SME industrial clusters focused specifically on artificial intelligence. A notable element of the policy is its explicit backing of novel entrepreneurial formats enabled by large models. The MIIT SME Bureau highlighted that the plan aims to adapt to shifting business models by supporting 'one-person companies' (OPCs), 'super-individuals,' AI-native firms, open-source contributors, and autonomous agent developers. The policy seeks to reduce initial trial-and-error costs and startup barriers for small teams. To address structural resource bottlenecks, the plan outlines 15 key tasks across four major areas. In resource allocation, MIIT intends to utilize platforms such as the China Computing Power Platform to integrate and flexibly allocate computing capacity, offering lower-cost public computing pools to early-stage ventures. The government also pledged to develop and open high-quality industry datasets in sectors such as smart manufacturing, materials research, and biomedicine. Furthermore, the plan encourages leading supply-chain anchor enterprises to open up pilot validation, demonstration, and commercial deployment scenarios to startups through business-matching events. Regional authorities are urged to appoint industry partners to assist AI ventures with scenario sourcing and market deployment. Domestic demand for computing infrastructure appears strong amid this policy push. State media cited an intelligent computing center in Shaoguan, Guangdong province, reporting a tenfold increase in clients through August 2026 and full server utilization across two server buildings.