中国正动员数以千计的单人AI初创公司

Chinese cities are offering free apartments and converting idle data centers into incubators as they compete to attract “one-person companies,” or OPCs — startups run by a single founder with the help of artificial intelligence.

AI automation tools such as vibe-coding agents and video generators have enabled individuals to build tech products on their own, without the need for venture investments or employees. 

Under a national push to grow the AI industry, local governments have introduced various benefits over the past few months to attract these solo founders, offering them free office space, discounted computing power, and special loans to build AI applications. 

The OPC fervor began spreading in November, when the city of Suzhou, a high-tech manufacturing hub, pledged to turn itself into a destination for AI solopreneurs by building 30 “OPC communities” and cultivating 1,000 one-person enterprises by 2028. 

There are still too few AI talents in China. We need to get everyone to start moving.” 

Duke Wang, co-founder of a startup accelerator

Other localities soon followed with their own incentives. The Pudong district of Shanghai offers to cover the startups’ computing costs up to 300,000 yuan ($44,000). The city of Wuhan is dangling special loans for AI solopreneurs and promising to help cover some of the losses if they ever default.

China has regularly used a combination of central directives and local competition to supercharge new industries, from e-commerce to electric vehicles. During the annual parliamentary meeting this month, the Chinese leadership laid out plans to expand AI adoption across the economy. 

“China is like a giant Silicon Valley,” Lin Zhang, an associate professor at the University of New Hampshire who researches China’s digital economy, told Rest of World. “When new technology emerges, the entire bureaucratic system is mobilized to develop it.”  

While venture capital funds are driving Silicon Valley’s AI boom, China is leaning on government policy and funding to mobilize participation from both industries and individuals, Zhang said. The government has set up venture funds, provided data infrastructure, and acted as an early adopter for domestic AI products. 

Eager to facilitate AI adoption, several district governments are also subsidizing entrepreneurs to integrate OpenClaw, a viral open-source AI agent that can handle tasks such as managing emails or building websites, into industrial applications, despite the agent’s security risks. 

The OPC subsidies are going to entrepreneurs through special incubators that are now popping up across the country. The definition of an OPC varies: Some incubators say they also include companies with two or three people. 

Duke Wang, co-founder of a startup accelerator called I Have a Demo, has partnered with a district government in Hangzhou to run an OPC incubator in a state-owned coworking space. The incubator has admitted six startups developing AI applications such as smart rings and bracelets. 

In addition to the free office space, Wang said, the incubator helps AI startups collaborate with each other, and connects them to potential clients and suppliers. “There are still too few AI talents in China,” Wang told Rest of World. “We need to get everyone to start moving.” 

A staff member at an incubator in Shenzhen’s Luohu district told Rest of World it aims to sponsor more than 50 AI startups. It has been inviting AI founders to build applications for major trading and manufacturing companies to accelerate overall AI adoption in the district. 

In some cases, the OPC push is a way for local governments to make use of office buildings and data centers that have been sitting idle. Bolstered by the AI push, local governments have in recent years built data centers without fully considering market demand, and many facilities have been left underutilized. 

As long as I’m working together with AI, I won’t get replaced by it. AI is a big opportunity for me.”

One salesperson at a data center in Zhejiang province, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the company was offering free office space and computing power through government OPC subsidies, hoping to attract long-term clients. The data center, equipped with domestic chips, has been struggling to find users because the chips do not integrate well with architectures that were designed to run on Nvidia chips. 

The prospects of these mini AI startups are uncertain. Venture capital investors say most OPCs will not grow into viable businesses, but the government subsidies nonetheless encourage more people to start brainstorming startup ideas. 

The new incentives are appealing to tech workers who are seeking a new career amid frequent layoffs and the prospect of being replaced by AI. 

One of them, Ma Ruipeng, 41, quit his two-decade programming career three months ago to build AI software that helps people make mobile apps. He is interested in the government subsidies, but has yet to figure out how to apply. 

From his apartment in Beijing, Ma works with three computers and several AI tools, including Claude Code and AI design tool Figma. He has installed OpenClaw, and named his agent “Big House” — the ultimate goal of his solo venture. 

Ma has not made any money yet, and lives off his savings. “As long as I’m working together with AI, I won’t get replaced by it,” he said. “AI is a big opportunity for me.”