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Shandong Data Industry Plan: What Foreign Founders Need to Know
A practical guide for foreign founders on Shandong's plan to grow its data industry by 2028, covering enterprise cultivation, AI-data integration, funding, infrastructure, overseas services and compliance points relevant to company registration and operations in China.
Shandong's Data Industry Blueprint: Key Points for Foreign Founders
The General Office of the Shandong Provincial People's Government has issued an implementation opinion aimed at accelerating high-quality development of the data industry. The policy is designed to strengthen the role of data as a production factor and of artificial intelligence technologies, cultivate data enterprises and expand the province's data sector. For foreign founders considering a presence in China, the document signals where provincial support, infrastructure and regulatory attention are likely to focus through 2028. Below is a practical summary of the measures most relevant to company registration, operations and growth.
Building a Pipeline of Data Enterprises
Cultivation, conversion and attraction
The province plans to establish a provincial-level cultivation pool for data enterprises, with regular intake across six categories: data resources, data technologies, data services, data applications, data security and data infrastructure. A tiered cultivation programme will identify and support growth-stage data companies, and eligible firms may access financial services and computing power support under existing policies.
By 2028, the province targets more than 25,000 data enterprises, including more than 70 listed companies and more than 500 unicorn and gazelle enterprises.
Traditional data-intensive companies, industry leaders and internet platform companies are encouraged to set up separate operating entities for data business through new establishment or restructuring. Traditional third-party professionals such as law, accounting, auditing and asset valuation firms are encouraged to expand into data compliance certification, security auditing, quality evaluation, asset valuation and risk assessment.
Municipalities are encouraged to improve investment promotion policies for data enterprises, identify priority targets and run targeted promotion activities. They may also revitalise idle industrial parks and buildings and take on data-related business from leading internet companies through equity contribution or joint construction.
Priority Segments: Annotation, Resources, Assets and Clusters
Data annotation and processing
The plan supports basic, large-scale data annotation and processing in cities and counties with suitable conditions, including annotation services for artificial intelligence. It promotes intelligent annotation and 4D annotation technologies and aims to strengthen complex annotation capabilities in areas such as financial technology and biomedicine, moving the industry toward technology-intensive, higher value-added work.
Data resource development
Enterprises are encouraged to increase investment in data collection, aggregation, computing and storage, trading, development and utilisation, and security governance. Data enterprises may form innovation consortia with upstream and downstream companies, universities and research institutes. Provincial key laboratories and technology innovation centres in the data field are to be used to support research and commercialisation.
Data asset value
Authorised public data operators are encouraged to enrich data products and services, with vertical platforms in marine, healthcare and transport sectors. The province aims to improve the data trading market system and develop data brokerage, consulting and custody services. Administrative units and enterprises are to carry out data asset confirmation, measurement and information disclosure in an orderly way, while equity contribution and financing guarantee models for data assets are to be explored prudently.
Clusters and industrial chains
Jinan and Qingdao are to pilot high-standard data industry cluster zones, while other cities may develop specialised small clusters in existing parks and commercial buildings. By 2028, the province aims to form more than 30 data industry clusters, with average annual growth of the data industry exceeding 20%. Digital empowerment and public service platforms are planned to support clusters.
Chain-leading enterprises are encouraged to open up data resources across the chain, and large firms are encouraged to give smaller firms easier access to data and computing resources. The province plans a single data industry map and multiple lists covering projects and application scenarios.
Data and AI: Two-Way Enablement
The policy promotes integration of the "data factor x" and "AI plus" initiatives and new models such as data-as-a-service, knowledge-as-a-service and model-as-a-service. Data enterprises are encouraged to build high-quality datasets, industry knowledge bases and evaluation datasets for AI model training. By 2027, more than 50 high-quality industry datasets are targeted across 16 key fields including scientific research and healthcare.
A "model-data resonance" action will explore combining data, technology, scenarios and funding, encouraging data enterprises to develop and apply industry models and scenario-specific models. The aim is a cycle in which data trains models and models improve data.
Connecting Data with Traditional Industries
"Data dating" activities will match data products with application scenarios and industry needs with solutions. Selected counties and districts may explore integrated development paths in modern agriculture, transport, healthcare and urban governance. Traditional enterprises are encouraged to recruit data enterprise "partners" to address operational bottlenecks, and to license data resources to data enterprises on market terms, with shared value-added returns.
Supply, Talent and Funding
Public data openness is to be expanded and the annual open list updated. Authorised operation mechanisms for public data resources will supply high-value public data products to data enterprises. Enterprises, especially industry leaders and platform companies, are encouraged to open data while complying with classification and grading protection rules.
Eligible data enterprises may adopt a chief data officer system. Universities, research institutes and enterprises are encouraged to jointly build data industry colleges and training bases. By 2028, about 10 data-related university disciplines and about five new doctoral and master's programmes are targeted, alongside digital literacy programmes in technical colleges.
Provincial fiscal funds will support data enterprises, the data industry and pilot construction, and eligible key projects may apply for central budget investment. Financing channels include listing, science and technology innovation bonds and data asset securitisation. Government investment funds will increase support, and relending policies for technological innovation and upgrading will be used to guide financial institutions toward products suited to data enterprises.
Infrastructure, Going Global and Security
The province will accelerate an integrated computing power service platform and improve supply-demand matching. Enterprises are encouraged to build secure and trusted data infrastructure and participate in enterprise, industry and city trusted data spaces linked to provincial infrastructure. A "Qi computing interconnection" action aims at millisecond-level network access within metropolitan areas, with Jinan and Qingdao piloting millisecond computing initiatives.
For companies expanding overseas, the "Shan Hai Jing" comprehensive service port is to provide public services and solutions. A cross-border data flow service system, relying on the Qingdao international communications gateway, is to offer low-latency, high-bandwidth and secure international data transmission. New models such as "data processing for incoming data" and "token export" may be explored in compliance with the law.
The policy also reiterates implementation of national data classification and grading protection rules, with attention to national security interests. Foreign founders should treat data compliance, cross-border transfer and security governance as core operational requirements.
What This Means for Foreign Founders
Foreign founders setting up or operating a company in China can use this policy as a guide to where Shandong sees demand: data annotation, industry datasets, data services, asset valuation and AI model support. The emphasis on enterprise cultivation, cluster development, computing infrastructure and financing channels may create partnership and pilot opportunities. At the same time, the focus on classification and grading, cross-border data rules and security means compliance planning should begin early, alongside company registration and licensing.
Foreign founders can contact ChinaMNC on WhatsApp / WeChat at +86 153 1898 8535 for help registering and operating a company in China.
This summary is based on information published by the relevant Chinese government website and is general information, not legal or tax advice.