China Unveils Five-Year Plan for Internet Enterprise Growth

China’s top cyberspace governance body has issued a comprehensive five-year action plan aimed at accelerating the high-quality development of internet information enterprises, marking the country’s first systematic policy document targeting the sector. The plan, released by the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission on August 21, sets ambitious targets for 2030, including significantly enhanced comprehensive strength, improved technological innovation capabilities, and stronger product competitiveness for Chinese internet companies.

According to Xinhua News, the plan establishes a “1+4+2” policy framework comprising one main line of enterprise cultivation services, four capability-building actions focused on innovation, industry enablement, overseas expansion, and safe development, and two support mechanisms addressing business environment optimization and development factor guarantees.

A Strategic Policy Milestone

The action plan represents a significant shift in China’s approach to its internet sector, moving from a focus on scale and quantity toward quality and efficiency. As the Central Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) explained, the plan is designed to strengthen policy guidance and factor guarantees, stimulate the vitality of internet information enterprises, and regulate their healthy and orderly development.

Jiang Mingtao, director of the National Industrial Information Security Development Research Center, described the plan as “the first systematic and comprehensive enterprise development policy document in China’s internet information field,” according to expert analysis published by the CAC. The plan is also positioned as a key measure to implement the spirit of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee and empower high-quality development through the digital economy.

Seven Actions, Twenty-One Measures

The plan outlines seven major actions encompassing 21 specific measures. These include enterprise cultivation services, innovation capability enhancement, industry upgrade enablement, overseas market expansion, safe and orderly development, business environment optimization, and development factor guarantees.

A central feature is the establishment of a three-tier enterprise classification system. The plan targets ecosystem-leading enterprises with global-scale influence and standards-setting capabilities, industry-leading enterprises in specific market segments, and high-growth innovative enterprises including fast-growing startups and SMEs. This differentiated approach aims to foster a collaborative ecosystem where large enterprises provide technical guidance and market opportunities for smaller innovators.

Technology and AI Focus

The plan places significant emphasis on technological self-reliance, calling for breakthroughs in high-end chips, foundational and industrial software, network communications, cybersecurity, and data security. It also targets frontier technologies including quantum technology, blockchain, brain-computer interfaces, digital twins, and new display technologies.

Artificial intelligence receives particular attention. The full text of the action plan calls for supporting enterprises in AI key technology research, developing high-end AI chips, breaking through high-performance training cluster technologies, improving foundation model performance across large language models, multimodal models, and world models, and advancing intelligent agents and embodied intelligence.

This focus reflects China’s growing AI ambitions. According to expert analysis, Chinese AI large model weekly token call volume surpassed the United States for three consecutive weeks in March 2026, making China one of the most active countries in global AI applications. Domestic open-source models have accumulated over 10 billion downloads globally, while the open-source HarmonyOS has covered over 1.35 billion devices.

Financial and Data Support

The plan includes substantial financial support measures. It calls for broadening financing channels for internet enterprises, effectively utilizing government investment funds, and supporting early-stage and hard-tech investments. Qualified enterprises will receive support for listings on the STAR Market and ChiNext, while the plan encourages the development of S-funds (private equity secondary market funds) and M&A funds to create additional exit channels beyond traditional IPOs.

On the data front, the plan emphasizes establishing data security compliance systems and implementing data export security assessments. It supports free trade zones in developing data export negative lists and encourages ecosystem-leading and industry-leading enterprises to provide inclusive data products and technical tools to SMEs.

Green Development and Regulation

In a notable addition, the plan incorporates green and low-carbon development provisions. It supports enterprises in improving renewable energy utilization, guides new computing infrastructure to coordinate with renewable energy generation, promotes liquid cooling technology and waste heat recovery, and calls for building national green computing infrastructure.

The plan also strengthens regulatory oversight. It prohibits “choose one from two” (exclusive dealing) practices, regulates excessive subsidies and “involution-style” competition, and standardizes platform fee charging. As CAC officials explained in a Q&A session, the plan balances encouragement and support with standardized development, policy guidance with legal management, and economic benefits with social benefits.

Supporting Global Expansion

Recognizing the challenges facing Chinese tech companies abroad, the plan includes provisions to support overseas expansion. It supports enterprises in computing power, cloud services, and AI to “go global” in an orderly manner, establishes overseas compliance guidance centers for key markets, and builds a legal dispute case database for enterprises going abroad.

Wang Zhicheng, deputy director of the CAC Data and Technology Support Center, noted in his expert interpretation that internet information enterprises have become the main force in cultivating and laying out emerging industries and future industries. He emphasized that the plan embodies principles of putting people first and coordinating development and security throughout.

What to Watch

The plan’s implementation will unfold against a backdrop of rapid digital economy growth. China’s digital economy share of GDP grew from 27.5% in 2015 to 43.8% by 2024, with core industry added value exceeding 10.5% of GDP in 2025. The country has built the world’s largest fiber optic and mobile broadband networks, and its computing power scale ranks among global leaders.

Key questions remain about how the plan’s provisions will be implemented in practice. Local governments will need to develop specific measures, and the balance between supporting enterprise growth and regulating monopolistic practices will require careful navigation. The plan’s “anti-involution” provisions could reshape competition dynamics in sectors like ride-hailing, e-commerce, and food delivery.

For global technology observers, the plan signals China’s determination to strengthen its position in the global technology landscape. As the first systematic policy document of its kind for the internet information sector, it provides a roadmap for how Beijing intends to cultivate world-class technology enterprises while maintaining regulatory control over the digital economy.