Hangzhou, a city’s strength surpasses the United States

Hangzhou, a city that has never been able to keep a low profile. In the upcoming AI era, relying on its own strength to take on all American tech giants, the "Six Little Dragons of Hangzhou" have made waves overseas by defeating Silicon Valley, even shaking the Zhejiang government.

The "Six Little Dragons of Hangzhou" are:

AI company Deepseek: R1, with extremely low training costs, is catching up to OpenAI's most advanced O1 model, directly reducing AI training costs by 99%, shocking the American AI community.

Robot company Unitree: Outperforming the number one robot design company in the U.S., Boston Dynamics, crossing mountains and rivers, making the original hydraulic technology route pale in comparison, directly driving domestic robots to overtake in a curve.

Game Science, which launched "Black Myth: Wukong": Exploding in the global gaming market, "Black Myth: Wukong" has become a significant turning point for Chinese console games, regarded as the first true "AAA" game in China.

The other three are leading domestic brain-computer interface companies QiangNai Technology, the indispensable YunShenChu Technology in the quadruped robot field, and QunKe Technology, which possesses the world's largest interactive 3D data capabilities.

In the internet era, Hangzhou once bore the responsibility of being the "E-commerce Capital," leading the industry forward with every move. This time, the collective emergence of AI newcomers may mean that Hangzhou is once again at the forefront of the times, even shouldering the banner of China's Silicon Valley, becoming the innovation capital of China in the AI era.

So why do all these AI newcomers come from Hangzhou?

Timing, location, and human resources are all essential. The success of an industry has never relied on the sudden inspiration of a single person, but rather on the interconnection of different fields. We have tried to peel back the layers and found several possible reasons.

First, industrial policy support

2018 was destined to be a turning point year. Looking back, without the support of Zhejiang Province's industrial policy at that time, Hangzhou's AI might not have achieved what it has today.

That year, Unitree's founder Wang Xingxing faced operational difficulties. After exhausting funding in 2017 without achieving product delivery, he fortunately secured new financing at the beginning of 2018 to fulfill deliveries, leading to today's success.

In 2017, Zhejiang Province, with its keen insight, took the lead in the robot sector by issuing the "Zhejiang Province 'Robot+' Action Plan," becoming the first province in the country to propose the "Robot+" policy, serving as a solid backing for robot companies like Unitree.

Also in 2018, a delegation from Hangzhou found QiangNai Technology's founder Han Bicheng in a basement in Boston, USA, and invited him to Hangzhou. Four years later, QiangNai Technology achieved mass production of the world's first portable high-precision brain-computer interface product with 100,000 units.

This was also made possible because the Hangzhou government provided the necessary R&D and industrialization space for the company to have the opportunity to become one of the only two brain-computer interface companies in the world, alongside Elon Musk's Neuralink, to secure over $200 million in financing. **

Second, Gather High-End Resources and Rely on Top Universities

In addition to policies and industrial chains, Hangzhou's gathering of high-end resources and reliance on top universities have become the cornerstone of AI industry development.

In Hangzhou, from Future Science City, Dream Town, to the Artificial Intelligence Town, and then to the Nanhu Future Technology Park, it not only has the only national laboratory in the province but also gathers two national large scientific devices, 17 national key laboratories, and 5 provincial laboratories.

At the same time, relying on well-known universities such as Zhejiang University and Westlake University, it has created high-level platforms and carriers such as ultra-gravity centrifuge simulation and experimental devices, Nanhu Brain-Machine Cross Research Institute, Zhejiang Quantum Research Institute, and Humanoid Robot Industry Innovation Center, becoming the core engine of technological innovation.

Taking Zhejiang University as an example, Zhejiang University to Hangzhou is like Stanford to Silicon Valley. Liang Wenfeng, a core figure of Huanfang, graduated from the Department of Information and Electronic Engineering at Zhejiang University, and Huanfang AI also has many technical talents from Zhejiang University. According to Jack Clark, former policy director of OpenAI and co-founder of Anthropic, DeepSeek "has hired a group of enigmatic geniuses."

Third, Industrial Clusters "Blooming Everywhere"

The areas where these AI newcomers gather have formed numerous industrial clusters. From Yuhang District, Xihu District, to Binjiang District and Gongshu District, the deep innovation soil may herald the birth of more outstanding enterprises in the future.

Among them, the Yichuang Town, where the Game Science is located, is situated in Xihu District. Yichuang Town gained fame due to "Black Myth: Wukong," and it also gathers over 3,000 cultural and creative enterprises such as Light Chaser Animation and Time Coordinates, producing excellent animated films like "Chang'an 30,000 Miles" and "White Snake: The Luminous Era."

Yang Qi, the artist of the "Black Myth: Wukong" game, also explained why they moved from Shenzhen to Hangzhou, as the Yichuang Town where Youke Interactive is located is not far from the China Academy of Art, allowing them to be away from the bustling city while also being very convenient to visit the West Lake mountains and Lingyin Temple for inspiration.

And in the year that Youke Interactive was established in Hangzhou, Yichuang Town had just introduced policies to provide up to 100% rent subsidies or exemptions for digital content enterprises such as games within three years.

Binjiang District, where Yushu Technology is located, has a complete chain for the robotics industry. From upstream chips and key components to midstream robot manufacturing and downstream robot system integration, many advantageous enterprises have emerged in Binjiang District.

Gongshu District, where Huanfang is located, is a hub for financial institutions. It relies on platforms such as Canal Wealth Town, Wulin Financial Gathering Area, and Huijin International to attract the headquarters of 62 provincial-level and above financial institutions nationwide. In 2023, the financial industry's added value reached 67.18 billion yuan, ranking first in the city, which may also be an important factor for Liang Wenfeng and others to choose to place Huanfang in Huijin International In this way, high-end resources gather enterprises and talents, laying a foundation for the follow-up policies, further promoting industry development, and leading to the rise of a trillion-yuan industrial cluster, creating a closed loop.

In summary, the reason why Hangzhou can surpass the United States with its own strength is certainly not a coincidence; the substantial investment of resources has made the innovation soil here sufficiently fertile. Now it is the "Six Little Dragons" of AI, and in the future, it may become the "Six Hundred Legions" of AI.

So why did they all choose Hangzhou? This may be the answer