China’s strategic ‘little giant’ firms quickly rise to 14,600, surpass 2025 goal

China set a goal of cultivating 10,000 so-called ‘little giant’ firms by 2025 amid increasing tech competition with the US

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Staff members work at a semiconductor company at the Suzhou Industrial Park in Suzhou, east China’s Jiangsu province. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 9:00am, 3 Dec 2024Updated: 1:06pm, 3 Dec 2024

China has fostered 14,600 small, privately owned companies as drivers for top strategic industries, exceeding a 2025 goal and levelling up tech competition with the United States.

The tally of enterprises the government calls “little giants” includes 5,000 enterprises working in new technology, including artificial intelligence (AI) and the low-altitude economy characterised by commercial drones, state broadcaster CCTV said on Sunday.

China is supporting little giants as part of its wider effort to promote domestic technologies and increase self-sufficiency as disputes with the US restrict access to certain supplies.

As of 2022, China had identified 8,997 little giants against a goal of cultivating 10,000 by 2025, which was outlined as part of the 14th five-year plan for 2021-25.

“China is claiming market share in an increasing number of industrial sectors like automotive, home appliances and machinery,” said Xu Tianchen, a senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit market research firm.

“This will benefit small and medium-sized enterprises, which are important suppliers of components. There’s no doubt that China will be a more innovative economy.”

Reporting from an event in Shanghai on Sunday for small and medium-sized enterprises, CCTV said the average research and development investment by “little giants” totalled 7 per cent of their operating income, while they averaged 22 patents.