One-person companies rise in popularity, gain policy support

AI-empowered OPCs now hottest entrepreneurial trend nationwide

China is elevating the "one-person company" from a fringe business model to a national strategy, betting that artificial intelligence can turn individuals into scalable economic units, which industry experts said is a shift unfolding in parallel with the United States, but along a markedly different path.

The one-person company, or OPC, emerged as one of China's hottest entrepreneurial trends recently. A research report by the State Administration for Market Regulation describes the sector as "entering a phase of rapid expansion", concentrated in major economic clusters such as the Yangtze River Delta region, the Pearl River Delta region and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, as well as rising inland innovation hubs.

The numbers underscore the momentum. By June 2025, China had more than 16 million registered one-person limited liability companies, accounting for 27.4 percent of all enterprises. In the first half of 2025 alone, 2.86 million new OPCs were registered, up 47 percent year-on-year and representing nearly a quarter of all new businesses.