China is building an “aircraft carrier-sized” national government guidance fund to pool nearly 1 trillion yuan ($137.9 billion) of long-term private and public funding to invest in cutting-edge technologies including AI and quantum technology, stated state media CCTV, citing a top government official.
The fund is tasked with attracting “regional and private capital” to invest in “early-stage, small-scale hard tech [developers] with a long-term view,” said Zheng Shanjie (郑栅洁), the chairman of China’s state planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
Zheng made the remarks during a press conference on Thursday at China’s “Lianghui,” or “Two Sessions,” which are two parallel sets of meetings held every March in the capital city of Beijing for parliamentarians and political advisers to discuss a policy roadmap for the year ahead.
The government guidance fund will primarily invest in “frontier industries” including artificial intelligence (AI), quantum technology, and hydrogen energy storage, according to the CCTV report.
The fund is expected to “effectively address funding shortage – an obstacle that has been shared by many tech startups at the early stage of their development,” said a separate NDRC representative cited by the report.
The fund targets to support “disruptive technological innovations,” including startups in areas like bio-manufacturing, embodied intelligence, and 6G – which are also highlighted in Premier Li Qiang’s work report during the Two Sessions this week as some of the other “emerging industries” being strategically important to the country.
It is designed to have a fund life of up to 20 years, which more than doubles the typical fund life of seven to 10 years for most venture capital (VC) funds globally.
China’s launch of the trillion-yuan government guidance fund comes amid its heated tech rivalry with the US, especially in AI, after DeepSeek’s launch of its global hit ChatGPT-rivalling R1 model in January.
The past two months have already seen Chinese regional governments ramp up efforts to support homegrown AI innovations.
A few days ago, the Beijing government set up a 100 billion yuan ($13.7 billion) fund to invest in AI, robotics, and “other industries of the future.” In late February, Shenzhen, a technology hub in southern China, announced a 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) industry fund dedicated to AI and robotics.
