Shandong Province Sets Sights on 10,000 AI Entrepreneurs in Three Years

In July 2026, the Shandong Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, together with 11 other agencies, published the "Action Plan for Supporting the Innovative Development of AI OPCs." The document establishes state support for a new type of business: entrepreneurship in which one person with AI tools replaces a traditional staff of employees.

What Is an AI OPC

OPC stands for One Person Company. In the Chinese interpretation, this is not freelancing in the usual sense: an AI OPC assumes that the entrepreneur uses large language models, agents and automation instead of hiring a team. Marketing, development, customer support and analytics are all handled by a single person with AI.

According to the official Shandong government portal, the authorities intend to make this model a "new type of market entity" and to grow such entrepreneurs through infrastructure, incentives and training.

Program Targets: 100, 1,000 and 10,000

The program is built around three orders of magnitude:

• 100 specialized hubs: sites with clearly defined functions and ready-made infrastructure
• 1,000 AI startups: technologically advanced companies with high growth potential
• 10,000 entrepreneurs: specialists who have fully switched to the OPC model
• 12 provincial agencies are implementing the plan jointly, from the industrial bloc to specialized agencies

The authorities are targeting three major cities: Jinan (the provincial capital), Qingdao and Yantai. The sites are to be set up on the basis of facilities that already operate: digital economy parks, advertising technology parks, network audio and video broadcasting centers, and dual-use incubators.

"The goal is to build a hundred clearly positioned and functionally

rich specialized sites, grow a thousand technologically advanced entrepreneurial entities with high growth potential, and bring together ten thousand outstanding AI OPC innovators," according to the official action plan of the Shandong government.

Why It Matters for the Market

In 2024–2025, China recorded a sharp rise in interest in AI tools among individual entrepreneurs, especially in marketing, media and software development. According to 36Kr, AI-powered "super-individuals" are one of the key trends for the Chinese labor market. Shandong, with a population of more than 100 million people, became the first region in the country to get a government regulatory act for this model.

The focus on existing infrastructure is a deliberate choice: the authorities do not want to build new campuses, but to fill idle space in operating parks. This lowers the program's cost and speeds up its launch.

What This Means

Shandong has effectively legitimized the term "AI OPC" at the level of state policy. If at least a thousand new companies of this type appear within three years, other Chinese provinces will likely copy the model. For the global market, this is a signal: China is building institutional support for AI-powered "super-individuals", not as a pilot, but as a full-fledged economic strategy.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an AI OPC, and how does it differ from self-employment?

An AI OPC (One Person Company) is a legally registered company run by one person who uses AI tools instead of hiring employees. Unlike freelancing, an OPC entrepreneur has limited corporate liability and can scale the business without growing headcount.

Which Shandong cities are participating in the program?

The program covers the province's three largest cities: Jinan (the capital), Qingdao and Yantai. The new hubs will not be built from scratch, but will open on the basis of existing technology parks and incubators.