China’s AI-related companies total 1.67 million in first half of 2024 amid ChatGPT frenzy

Mainland China added more than 237,000 new companies involved in artificial intelligence (AI) during the first half of this year, according to corporate database platform Qichacha, taking the total to 1.67 million amid Beijing’s efforts to foster the technology’s development.

Of that total, more than 1.48 million – almost 90 per cent – were set up after 2017, when the State Council, the country’s cabinet, published the Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan that outlined a goal to become a world leader in the technology. The Post’s search included all companies with AI in their name, patent portfolio and scope of business.

The annual number of new AI-related company registrations hit a record of more than 467,000 last year, which came on the heels of Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT on November 30, 2022 – when the public gained access to a chatbot that can quickly draft emails, craft speeches or summarise documents based on simple prompts from users.

That number eclipsed the mainland’s 56,000 new AI-related company registrations in 2018, a year after Beijing’s AI development plan was published, as more firms scrambled to become involved in developing chatbots and large language models – the technology underpinning generative AI services like ChatGPT.

That growth in AI-related company registrations reflects China’s new unicorn boom that has so far yielded four “AI tigers” – Baichuan, Zhipu AI, Moonshot AI and MiniMax – each of which has raised billions of dollars from deep-pocketed investors.