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Two Sessions 2025
EconomyChina Economy

DeepSeek’s rise helps push China’s ‘little giants’ into spotlight at ‘two sessions’

Premier says government will promote growth of SMEs that use sophisticated technologies to produce unique products

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Journalists and officials at Thursday’s economy news conference during the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress in Beijing. Photo: AFP
Frank Chenin Shanghai
China’s “little giant” manufacturers have been put under a big spotlight at the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress in Beijing, with the government work report and lawmakers discussing more support amid an intensifying tech war with the United States and China’s rapid advancement in artificial intelligence (AI).

In the work report he delivered to the legislature on Wednesday, Premier Li Qiang vowed to nurture more innovative manufacturing champions, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) occupying technological niches in the global supply chain for specialised products.

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“We will promote the growth of SMEs that use specialised, sophisticated technologies to produce novel and unique products, and support the development of unicorn and gazelle companies,” Li said. “These efforts will enable more enterprises to surge ahead in new areas and arenas.”

Unicorns are start-ups valued at more than US$1 billion, while gazelles – a term coined by American economist David Birch in 1987 – are small start-ups that see annual sales growth of at least 20 per cent in their first four years of operation.

Beijing wants China’s little giants and its potential unicorns and gazelles to help move the country’s manufacturing sector up the value chain, rekindle private sector growth and spawn more innovations.

Most little giants excel in advanced materials, biotechnology, automation, robotics or AI – fields deemed by Beijing as critical for winning the tech war with the US and modernising China’s traditional industries.

Beijing is committed to identifying and nurturing more little giants and tailoring help to their needs.

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‘Two sessions’ 2025: key takeaways from Chinese premier’s work report to top legislature

‘Two sessions’ 2025: key takeaways from Chinese premier’s work report to top legislature

The National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planning agency, revealed in its report to the NPC on Wednesday that China was home to 14,600 little giants last year.

Lawmakers and political advisers in Beijing for the ongoing “two sessions” – the annual meetings of the NPC and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) – have called for support for little giants to adopt and popularise AI and other nascent tech to be made a government priority.

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