Shanghai Extends STAR Market's Fifth Listing Standard: Loss-Making AI Companies Can Go Public

In 2026, Shanghai authorities published a package of measures extending the use of the "fifth set of listing standards" of the STAR Market exchange to companies in artificial intelligence, large language models and other frontier technologies. Under this standard, even loss-making companies can list. The document was prepared by the Office of the Financial Commission of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and the city's Development and Reform Commission.

What is changing on STAR Market

The fifth STAR Market listing standard will be extended to AI companies and "low-altitude economy" businesses. According to 36Kr, regulators are preparing special review guidelines (审核指引) for listing such companies. The key feature of this standard is that it lets companies without profits go public, provided they operate in priority technology sectors.

STAR Market is the science and technology board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, launched in 2019 as China's analog of Nasdaq for tech startups. Extending the fifth standard makes it even friendlier to early-stage companies that do not yet have stable revenue but do have strong technology. Shanghai states its goal directly: to raise the capital market's "institutional tolerance and adaptability" toward such issuers.

Which sectors get access

The measures list specific new and future sectors whose companies will get help reaching STAR Market. According to the Shanghai authorities' document, the list includes:

• Artificial intelligence and large models (大模型)
• Embodied intelligence — robotics with AI
• Controlled nuclear fusion
• Quantum computing
• Brain-computer interfaces (BCI)
• Low-altitude economy — drones and air taxis

The document separately singles out artificial intelligence and the low-altitude economy as areas for which the authorities are preparing their own listing review rules.

"Expand the application of the fifth set of STAR

Market listing standards and increase the capital market's institutional tolerance for loss-making frontier technology enterprises," — from the document of the Office of the Financial Commission of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee.

Why this matters for AI companies

AI startups rarely turn a profit early on: training large models and hiring researchers burn cash faster than revenue comes in. STAR Market's fifth standard removes the profitability requirement — a company can run an IPO based on its technology and market valuation rather than net profit. For large-model developers, this is a direct channel to capital inside China.

Beyond the standard itself, Shanghai authorities promise to make more active use of the pilot IPO pre-review mechanism (试点IPO预先审阅机制) for high-quality tech companies and to improve communication channels between the Shanghai Stock Exchange and major institutional investors and professional investors. All of this is meant to speed up and simplify the listing process itself.

What this means

China is strengthening institutional support for direct financing of its AI sector: loss-making developers of large models, robotics and quantum technologies are getting a path to an IPO on their home exchange, at a time when access to Western capital is limited for Chinese AI companies.

FAQ

What is STAR Market?

STAR Market is the science and technology board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange, launched in 2019 to list technology companies. It allows more flexible listing rules than China's main boards.

What does the fifth set of listing standards do?

The fifth standard allows companies that are not yet profitable to hold an IPO if they operate in frontier technology sectors. Shanghai is extending it to AI, large models, quantum computing and other priority sectors.

Which AI companies does this affect?

The measures cover developers of artificial intelligence, large language models and embodied intelligence (AI robotics), as well as companies in related frontier sectors — quantum computing, nuclear fusion and brain-computer interfaces.