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.
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.
“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.
