The Hurun Research Institute today released, in association with Beijing E-Town, the 2024 Hurun China Artificial Intelligence Enterprises Top 50, a ranking of the fifty most valuable specialist AI businesses in China. The cut-off used was 18 December 2024. This is the first year of the list.
HURUN RESEARCH INSTITUTE RELEASES:
2024 HURUN CHINA ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TOP 50
FOUNDED IN 2016, BEIJING-BASED AI CHIP COMPANY CAMBRICON TOPPED THE LIST, WITH A VALUATION OF US$34BN
VOICE RECOGNITION PLATFORM IFLYTEK SECOND WITH US$16.6BN
FACIAL RECOGNITION PLATFORM SENSETIME THIRD WITH US$7.1BN
BEIJING AND SHANGHAI ACCOUNTED FOR 60% OF HURUN CHINA AI LIST
BEIJING LED WITH 20 COMPANIES FROM THE LIST, INCLUDING CAMBRICON, MOONSHOT AI AND 4PARADIGM, FOLLOWED BY SHANGHAI WITH 9 , SHENZHEN 8 AND GUANGZHOU 4
12 YEARS OLD, ON AVERAGE. YOUNGEST ARE MOONSHOT AI, BAICHUAN AI AND LINGYIWANWU, EACH FOUNDED IN 2023
(9 January 2025, Beijing E-Town) The Hurun Research Institute today released, in association with Beijing E-Town, the 2024 Hurun China Artificial Intelligence Enterprises Top 50, a ranking of the fifty most valuable specialist AI businesses in China. The cut-off used was 18 December 2024. This is the first year of the list.
This list only took into account AI specialist businesses, so robotics companies, such as UBTech, car manufacturers with autonomous driving capabilities, such as BYD or XPeng Motors, drone manufacturers with AI capabilities, such as DJI, were not included. Big tech companies, who have strong AI teams but whose primary source of revenues are in other fields, such as ByteDance, Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu and Huawei, were also not included in the list.
The cut-off to make the list was a valuation of US$900 million, whilst the cutoff to the Top 10 was US$3.1bn. 27 companies are not yet listed.
This is a brief translation of the Chinese press release. For the full release, please refer to the Chinese press release, which has more details.
Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher, said:
“Whilst AI has been around for years, this recent feeding frenzy only started in December 2022, after OpenAI released ChatGPT. Since then, the biggest winner of this AI revolution, in terms of value, has been GPU producer Nvidia.”
“AI is generating so much value. Half of the new value generated by the Hurun Global 500 Most Valuable Companies 2024, for example, came from AI.”
“Young businesses are embracing AI. At the top of the scale, only 5% of the latest Hurun China 500 Most Valuable Companies were AI companies, led by the likes of Cambricon, Iflytek and SenseTime, whilst 8% of the China Unicorns were AI companies. 13% and 24% of the Hurun China Under30s and Under25s are doing AI. This shows how AI is the hottest topic for start-ups.”
“The concentration of China’s AI talent is first in Beijing, followed by Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. Overall, first-tier cities in China accounted for more than 80% of the total number of enterprises on the list.”
“Generative AI businesses are very young, with the likes of Moonshot AI, Baichuan AI and Lingyiwanwu all founded in 2023.”
“China’s big tech might not be included in the Hurun China AI Top 50 but they have big clout in AI. Huawei has recently launched PanguLM, Bytedance has Doubao and Tencent has Tencent Hunyuan.”
“The valuations of AI companies in the world are fast changing. xAI, founded by seral entrepreneur Elon Musk, for example, has climbed to a valuation of US$50bn, despite only launching in 2023, making it the fastest-growing startup the world has ever seen.”
“Is there an AI bubble today? To answer that question, we can look back to the internet bubble of 2000 for inspiration. The valuations in early 2025 of the top internet companies is tens of times – if not hundreds of times – higher than in 2000. Perhaps similarly, when we look back to 2025 from the year 2050, we will find that the value creation of AI companies is far beyond our imagination. This AI era we are living in will help big companies get bigger.”
“I am delighted to put out this list in association with E-Town, widely considered to have some of the best policies in China for smart manufacturing. E-Town, with 500,000sqm of modern office space for innovative companies, is looking to become China’s leading cluster for AI+ industrial applications.”
“For new groups of experts who would like to move here, E-Town will provide ‘move-in’ services, which include space for new start-up companies, 720-hour usage of 8P advanced computer power, help with connections with other teams and many more. We will also provide hundreds of millions industrial funds to promote the growth of the industry. We will make a one-to-one plan to accelerate the dual growth for enterprises both in revenue and valuation.”
Where do the Hurun China AI companies make their money from?
Geographical Distribution
2024 Hurun China Artificial Intelligence Enterprises Top 50
About BEIJING ECONOMIC - TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT AREA
BEIJING ECONOMIC - TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT AREA, also known as "Beijing E-Town", is the only economic functional zone in China that integrates the policy advantages of National Economic and Technological Development Zone, National High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, Zhongguancun National Innovation Demonstration Zone, Integrated National Demonstration Zone for Opening up the Services Sector, China (Beijing) Pilot Free Trade Zone Etown Group, and Beijing E-town Comprehensive Bonded Zone. In 1994, it was approved as a National Economic and Technological Development Zone.
Beijing E-Town has deeply implemented the "44637" high-quality development fusion enhancement strategy, with more than 100,000 operating entities, 160 projects invested by 105 Fortune 500 companies, 2300 national high-tech enterprises, and 155 national level specialized, refined, and new "Little Giant" enterprises.
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