Beijing [China], January 24 (ANI): China is giving support to the country's new startups and small scale industries that focus on modern technology amid the West's dominance in advanced technological developments and manufacturing, a media report said.

The Beijing Stock Exchange is expected to nurture more companies called "little giants" by the country's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. These companies are leading Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that specialise in niche sectors, command a high market share and boast strong innovative capacity and core technologies, China Daily quoted Zhu Haibin, the chief of National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ) analyst at Essence Securities as saying last week.

China's central government has begun to pay more attention to the development of the "little giants". Their development was included in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), released in March 2021.

There were 4,762 national-level "little giants" until last year in November recognised by the ministry, which plans, by the end of 2025, to nurture at least 10,000 such small technology pioneers.

It came after last year in July, China had announced to develop 10,000 'little giants' in the push for advanced manufacturing and Beijing had also said that those companies will act as 'hidden champions', key to closing gaps in advanced manufacturing with West, according to Global Times.

China had planned to widen its effort in building homegrown "hidden champions" - small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that dominate major markets in niche sectors - to close gaps with the likes of the US, Japan and Germany in advanced manufacturing, said Global Times. (ANI)