- The new standard defines AI-native businesses built around a single founder supported by AI agents
- The framework reflects China’s effort to formalize a fast-growing entrepreneurial model enabled by generative AI
Zhejiang has released China’s first industry standard for defining AI-powered one-person companies (OPCs), offering a formal framework for a new generation of AI-native startups built around a single founder.
The Artificial Intelligence OPC Terminology standard, jointly developed by the Zhejiang Digital Economy Development Center, Alibaba Cloud and 12 other organizations, will take effect on August 1.
It is the first terminology standard in China dedicated to AI OPCs, or One Person Companies.
Under the standard, an AI OPC is defined as a company controlled by one core individual, typically employing no more than 10 people, whose primary business involves AI research, development, applications or services.
The model relies on what the standard calls “intelligent agents”—AI-powered digital workers capable of autonomous interaction and task execution—to enable a single founder to operate and scale the business.
One notable revision from the draft version removed restrictions on shareholder numbers.
Removed limits to shareholder numbers
Instead of requiring no more than three shareholders and 20 employees, the final definition focuses on a single controlling founder and a workforce of no more than 10.
According to Jiang Shenglan (江胜蓝), head of the General Affairs Department at the Zhejiang Digital Economy Development Center, the change reflects the reality that many AI startups bring in angel investors while remaining founder-led.
The new definition therefore moves beyond China’s legal concept of a “one-person company” and instead emphasizes operational control and AI-enabled productivity.
The standard establishes 27 technical terms across five categories covering the full lifecycle of an AI OPC. Among them is the concept of a “replicable unit,” which packages standardized service workflows into modular business units that can be delivered repeatedly.
Emerging communities
This allows founders to scale through AI and automation rather than headcount.
The rise of generative AI has accelerated interest in one-person companies across China, particularly in Zhejiang, where AI entrepreneurship communities such as Honghub (鸿鹄汇) and Y Community (芯模社区) have cropped up around Hangzhou.
Until now, however, there has been no consistent definition of the model. Some local authorities classified AI OPCs as sole proprietorships, while others treated them as conventional small businesses, creating uncertainty around financing and government support.
Why it matters
Zhejiang’s new standard offers an early institutional framework for what many see as the emerging AI-powered “solo entrepreneur” economy.
As increasingly powerful AI agents enable individuals to perform work once requiring entire teams, traditional definitions of companies and small businesses may become less relevant.
By formally recognizing AI-enabled one-person companies as a distinct organizational model, Zhejiang is providing one of the world’s first regulatory reference points for how governments might adapt to the AI era.
