Guangdong’s provincial government has expressed commitment to establishing a “global innovation highland” for the artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics industries through generous subsidies for related start-ups.
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At a press conference on Tuesday, officials from China’s largest provincial economy promoted policies aimed at attracting AI and robotics talent, while highlighting the capabilities of local tech giants such as Huawei Technologies and Tencent Holdings.
One of the incentives includes grants of up to 50 million yuan (US$6.9 million) for each “manufacturing innovation hub in AI and robotics” and up to 3 million yuan for each individual company.
Additionally, the provincial government plans to select as many as five “open-source communities” and 10 use cases of large language models in manufacturing each year, providing each with funding of up to 8 million yuan.
The initiative aims to position Guangdong as a global AI and robotics centre, following eastern Zhejiang province’s recent success with DeepSeek and Unitree Robotics. Notably, DeepSeek’s founder Liang Wenfeng, originally from Guangdong, chose to study at Zhejiang University in the provincial capital of Hangzhou, where he launched his hedge fund and AI start-up.
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