Tianhe district of Guangzhou – capital of South China's Guangdong province – recently announced several ambitious measures to promote the high-quality development of its artificial intelligence industry, which are due to come into effect on Dec 7.

It is stated that Tianhe will focus on building a national-level AI integrated innovation pilot zone and accelerate the formation of new quality productive forces.

What's more, by 2026 the district is expected to have nurtured and introduced at least 10 unicorn and national little giant enterprises in the AI large model field, as well as having cultivated 30 or more national AI large model demonstration applications scenarios.

Unicorn companies are pre-IPO or stock market listing startups with at least $1 billion in market value. Little giants, meanwhile, are those specializing in niche industries that apply cutting-edge technologies, command a high market share and boast strong innovative capacity and core technologies.

An impressive view of Tianhe at night. [Photo/WeChat account: tianhefabu]

Tianhe will support eligible software and information technology service enterprises in constructing open-source platforms, open-source communities, code repositories, and development test platforms.

Moreover, eligible open-source platforms certified by the Openatom Foundation will receive a one-time maximum funding of 2 million yuan ($276,759).

For public intelligent computing centers that have been identified by national, provincial and municipal authorities for providing specified services – like intelligent computing capabilities, data resources docking and landing applications of large models – an annual subsidy of up to 1 million yuan will be granted.

Enterprises that have purchased intelligent computing gear exceeding 1 million yuan in the previous year will receive support equivalent to 50 percent of the actual purchase amount, to a maximum annual amount of 1.5 million yuan.

AI large model enterprises, that completed the filing of national-level generative AI services in the previous year, will receive a subsidy that is equivalent to 10 percent of the previous year's research and development input – with each enterprise receiving an annual amount of up to 1 million yuan.

High-rise buildings dominate the skyline in Tianhe. [Photo/WeChat account: tianhefabu]

In Tianhe, there are now over 100 AI enterprises above a designated size – those with annual revenue of 20 million yuan or more – that generated revenue of about 34 billion yuan in 2023. Of those, 21 are big model enterprises above a designated size, accounting for 2.7 percent of the software industry in the district.

By the end of 2023, Tianhe boasted one unicorn company, four potential unicorns, and four seeded unicorns at the Guangzhou city level, as well as seven national little giants.