The Big Take

China’s ‘Little Giants’ Are Its Latest Weapon in the U.S. Tech War

Beijing is giving special government support to thousands of startups working on strategically important sectors

ForwardX mobile robots at a factory in China.

Source: ForwardX Robotics

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In today’s China, behemoths like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. are out of favor, but “little giants” are on the rise.

That’s the designation for a new generation of startups that have been selected under an ambitious government program aimed at fostering a technology industry that can compete with Silicon Valley. These often-obscure companies have demonstrated they’re doing something innovative and unique, and they’re targeting strategically important sectors like robotics, quantum computing and semiconductors.