The Sci-Tech Innovation Board has surpassed 600 companies, with 64% being "Little Giants"! The green channel has become normalized, and the "Golden Age" of hard technology has arrived.

This article is from Times Weekly, by Huang Jiaxiang.

Supporting technological innovation has become a key theme of the 2026 National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

The 2026 Government Work Report proposed strengthening full-chain, full-lifecycle financial services for technological innovation. For key core technology enterprises, a regular “green channel” mechanism for listing financing and mergers and acquisitions will be implemented to support innovation through financial technology.

As the main platform serving “hard technology” in the capital market, the STAR Market (Science and Technology Innovation Board) has been continuously promoting institutional innovation and industrial upgrading since its opening in June 2019. It has now become a hub for “hard tech” companies, with over 600 listed companies and a total market value exceeding 10 trillion yuan. These companies cover strategic emerging fields such as new-generation information technology, biomedicine, high-end equipment, and new energy. Among them, 64% are listed in the national “Little Giant” specialized and innovative enterprise catalog.

In recent years, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has introduced the “Eight Measures for the STAR Market” and the “1+6” reform policies, with ongoing positive results. The CSRC’s 2026 systematic work conference emphasized continuing to implement and deepen reforms of the STAR Market. During the Two Sessions, reforms and development of the STAR Market attracted significant attention from representatives, committee members, and market participants.

Tian Lihui, Dean of the Financial Development Research Institute at Nankai University, told Times Weekly that the initial effects of the STAR Market reform are evident, with data being the most convincing. The establishment of the growth layer and the restart of the fifth set of standards indicate that the market’s tolerance for “unprofitable” companies has significantly increased. This is no longer just about loosening financing channels but creating a positive incentive chain of “R&D investment—capital support—industry breakthroughs.” The future potential lies in “refinement,” and it is recommended that policies for unprofitable companies listing on the STAR Market should balance “inclusiveness” and “recognizability.”

Source: TuChong Creative.

Gathering Place for “Hard Tech”

On December 30, 2025, Qiangyi Co., Ltd. (688809.SH) was listed, marking the 600th company on the STAR Market.

Qiangyi is a “hard tech” enterprise focusing on high-tech services for semiconductor design and manufacturing, specializing in the research, design, production, and sales of core hardware probe cards for wafer testing. The listing of companies like Qiangyi, Moore Thread (688795.SH), and Muxi Co., Ltd. (688802.SH) exemplifies how the capital market is actively supporting technological innovation and cultivating new growth drivers.

As China’s reform testing ground for the capital market and a core hub for technological innovation, the STAR Market has grown from 25 initial companies in July 2019 to over 600. It has raised more than 960 billion yuan through IPOs, attracting a batch of companies with core competitiveness aligned with new productive forces, becoming a frontier where capital markets and hard technology intersect.

Among the 600 listed companies, 389 are included in the national “Little Giant” catalog, accounting for 64%. Sixty-five are recognized as “single champion” demonstration enterprises in manufacturing, and 49 have products rated as “single champion” in manufacturing, with a total of 418 companies (after deduplication), representing 70% of the sector.

As of the end of February 2026, there are 604 companies listed on the STAR Market. In the integrated circuit sector, there are 128 companies, accounting for half of the comparable A-share listed companies, covering upstream chip design, midstream wafer foundry, and downstream packaging and testing, forming a complete industrial chain. The biomedicine sector has 118 listed companies, mainly involved in tumor, autoimmune, metabolic, and vaccine treatments, making it a major global listing venue outside the US and Hong Kong.

Additionally, in the new energy sector, there are 17 photovoltaic companies and 20 power battery industry chain companies, indicating a strong momentum for green economy development. The industrial robot and rail transit industries are also beginning to take shape.

As a reform testing ground, the STAR Market has adopted more diverse and inclusive listing requirements.

By the end of February, special types of companies listed on the STAR Market include 60 unprofitable companies at listing, 9 with special equity structures, 7 red-chip companies, 22 companies listed under the fifth set of standards, 1 transferred to the STAR Market, and 17 multi-region listed companies. Of the 60 unprofitable companies at listing, 22 have “lifted U” (removed the unprofitable status), and 38 remain unprofitable but are now in the growth layer.

Recently, several growth-layer companies on the STAR Market, including Cambrian, BeiGene, Beixin Life, and Jingjin Electric, announced their 2025 performance reports, with many turning losses into profits. According to relevant rules, these companies are expected to remove their special status after the annual report is disclosed, becoming the first batch of “delisted” companies from the growth layer.

National People’s Congress (NPC) deputy and Peking University Bo Ya Professor Tian Xuan believes that the concentration of 600 tech companies on the STAR Market can generate significant industrial cluster effects and accelerate the transformation of technological achievements through upstream and downstream collaborative innovation. It also attracts more capital, talent, and other factors to hard tech industries, encouraging more enterprises to engage in core technology R&D and innovation.

Tian Lihui told Times Weekly that the STAR Market must adhere to its “hard tech” positioning, supporting not only mature large tech firms but also daring to open the capital door for frontier, unprofitable but core-competent companies at the cutting edge of technology development, providing a replicable and promotable institutional model for supporting new productive forces nationwide.

Reform Reboot

The STAR Market’s role as a hub for “hard tech” depends on continuous institutional innovation.

On June 19, 2024, the CSRC issued the “Eight Measures for the STAR Market,” focusing on enhancing the market’s inclusiveness and adaptability for tech innovation. It introduced a package of reforms supporting the listing of hard tech companies, optimizing issuance and underwriting, refinancing, M&A, index products, and market ecology, leading to a more vibrant and resilient ecosystem.

At a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on May 22, 2025, CSRC Chief Risk Officer and Director of the Issuance Supervision Department Yan Bojin stated that in supporting the listing of hard tech companies, the CSRC combines “proactive government” with “effective market” principles, more precisely identifying and selecting high-quality tech firms. For breakthrough companies in key core technologies, green channel policies are applied; for characteristics of tech firms, existing systems are utilized to support high-quality unprofitable tech companies going public, actively promoting the fifth set of standards and implementing new cases.

In June 2025, the CSRC launched the “1+6” reform policy for the STAR Market: “1” refers to establishing a growth layer for tech innovation and restarting the application of the fifth set of standards for unprofitable companies; “6” includes six reform measures, such as pilot pre-approval mechanisms for IPOs for high-quality tech firms and supporting unprofitable tech companies in capital increases and shareholding adjustments with existing shareholders.

By July 2025, 32 unprofitable companies had been included in the STAR Market’s growth layer. As new companies registered, the growth layer expanded. These reforms have improved the inclusiveness and adaptability of the system, supporting the development of “hard tech” enterprises and facilitating the “technology—industry—capital” cycle.

Recently, CSRC Chairman Wu Qing stated that, through reforms of the STAR and ChiNext boards, the authority will continue to deepen the comprehensive reform of investment and financing.

The 2026 government work report emphasized implementing a “green channel” mechanism for listing and mergers and acquisitions for key core technology enterprises on a regular basis.

Tian Lihui told Times Weekly that institutionalizing the “green channel” is a significant leap, transforming temporary policies into a long-term mechanism, signaling strategic support for “tech finance supporting innovation.” By standardizing processes and shortening listing cycles, financing for hard tech companies becomes more efficient and predictable, accelerating the full-chain transformation of “technology—capital—industry,” injecting sustainable momentum into the innovation ecosystem, and promoting a high-level cycle of “tech—industry—capital.”

During the Two Sessions in 2026, NPC deputy and Lixin Certified Public Accountants Chairman Zhu Jiandi suggested that the listing standards for new business models could be further improved. Although the fifth set of standards allows unprofitable companies to list, frontier fields like AI algorithms and synthetic biology with “zero revenue and high R&D” still face thresholds. He proposed referencing Nasdaq’s “IPO + direct listing” dual-track system, adding alternative standards based on “patent count + R&D team background” for purely technology-driven companies.

Tian Lihui also recommended that policies for unprofitable companies should balance “inclusiveness” and “recognizability”: on one hand, continue optimizing standards and be more patient with long-cycle sectors like AI and biomedicine; on the other hand, strengthen information disclosure, requiring companies to clearly disclose technological barriers, commercialization paths, and key R&D milestones, enabling the market to make informed value judgments and fostering a healthy cycle of “seller’s responsibility and buyer’s discretion.”

He emphasized deepening review inclusiveness, simplifying procedures for unprofitable companies, strengthening intellectual property valuation and risk disclosure mechanisms, and building an “prudent, inclusive, and precisely matched” listing ecosystem to make capital more efficient in nurturing innovation.

“Tian Xuan believes that in 2026, the capital market should leverage differentiated development ecosystems, enhancing institutional inclusiveness and adaptability,” he said. “Further clarifying the boundaries of the STAR Market, ChiNext, and Beijing Stock Exchange, continuously optimizing listing standards for tech and innovative SMEs, simplifying review processes, and improving listing efficiency will provide precise financing channels for different types of enterprises. Achieving high-efficiency access and market-oriented integration will facilitate effective investment and financing coordination, streamline direct financing channels, optimize resource allocation, and strengthen the capital market’s support for new productive forces.”